A Play For Love
by daseyisluv
Summary: While working on the play will his feelings for his best friend be reawakened or are there two many obstacles in the way of them revealing their unknown feelings? Told in Matthews pov.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: This is my first story for this fandom. I do not own any of the characters on one life to live. Let me know what you think please. This story is for fans of this couple so if you are not do not read it. I have completed this fic in its entirety knowing my past with fan-fiction. Hope you read and like it. Let me know if you want to know if you want me to write more for them. Now onto the story.

**A Play for Love: Chapter 1**

He remembers the instant jealousy he felt when he heard Dani and Destiny talking about how hot the new guy was. Never in his life had he felt as jealous as he did in that moment and he didn't quite understand it at all. How he felt this blind hatred of some guy he didn't understand. He usually didn't mind that much when he saw his "girlfriend" talking to another guy. So why would this be any different than usual? It was really bugging him. He was glad that even though he wasn't paired up with Dani that he got to work with Destiny. The two of them were just watching as Dani and whatever his name was were going through one of their scenes a couple hours earlier. Now he was just sitting there on his dad's empty hospital bed while he was at physical therapy with his mom who wouldn't leave his side afraid that he would over exert himself if she did. Out of nowhere he heard a knock on the door and he looked up to see Destiny holding some kind of container.

"You can come in." He said motioning for her to come in. Destiny then came in placing down the mysterious container.

"Special delivery. Mom's magic cookies. She and I made a double batch for your dad." She said opening the container smiling. Man she always knew the right thing to do.

"Thanks." Matthew said returning the smile.

"Where is he?" Destiny asked him.

"He'sin physical therapy. My mom went with him to make sure he didn't push it.**" **He replied.

"So he's better, I mean, since he's on his feet and everything?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, he's getting there. He's got a goal now." Man he couldn't wait for his parents to get married again it was like a dream come true.

"Oh, yeah?" She said looking at him with her soulful brown eyes which were filled with curiosity

"He and my mom are getting married." He said with a smile on his face.

"For real? That's good. Right?" She said unsure. He gave her a look in return that was very similar to her own.

"Yeah, it's great. I'm gonna be the best man." Matthew said grinning proudly.

"Congratulations. It'll be a fun wedding. Your family knows how to do it." She replied.

"Yeah, we get enough practice." He said recalling the many weddings his family has already had.

"I liked the last one, once Miss Dorian was done with her drama. It was a fun time." She said no doubt about his moms and Uncle Clint's wedding. He had a lot of fun too for _many _reasons.

"Yeah, it was." Matthew said softly while looking at her fondly. Destiny then looked away quickly.

"So are you gonna ask Dani to this wedding?" She asked him. He wasn't actually quite sure if he really wanted her to be his date. Something seemed to be holding him back but he didn't know quite what.

"These cookies look good." He said abruptly changing the subject.

"Try one." Destiny said motioning at them.

"They're for my dad." He said with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

Destiny rolled her eyes at him. "It's a double batch. There's plenty. And like my mom says, it'll cure what ails you."

"I'm not sick" Matthew said frowning slightly.

"Well, something's bugging you." She replied looking at him.

"Nah." He said grabbing on of the cookies.

Destiny gave him a look that said he couldn't fool her at all. "I saw you at rehearsal."

Crap he thought now he was just going to have to make up some excuse. "I'm just freaking out because I don't know my lines." He sputtered out looking down. He could tell she didn't believe him.

"And they're written on Nate Salinger's forehead. That's where you're staring the whole time." Destiny replied. It's futile to argue with her since she always got her way at least most of the time.

"Okay, I was just trying to remember my blocking, and he just always seemed to get in the way." Damn it he just lied again. They just seemed to keep slipping out and he didn't know why. She looked like she didn't believe him once again.

"Looked to me like he was always next to Dani. Are you jealous of Nate?" Destiny asked. Man she hit the nail right on the head. Boy was she good and pretty smart too. He got up off the bed.

"Okay, I'm not happy about how much Dani and Nate are gonna be kissing." He replied.

"They do a lot more than that." She replied while munching on a cookie.

"Thanks for the help." Matthew said bitterly. Like he didn't already know that.

"I'm just saying you better get used to it. I mean, it'll be hard for Dani, too." She said.

"Working with that pretentiously tall actor." He spit out jealously. He found it hard to believe that Dani would have a hard time doing a scene with Nate at all especially since of the way that he looked.

"She'll have to watch you and me kissing. Langston and Markko have some scenes where they can't keep their hands off each other." Destiny replied in a sort of sing song voice.

"Yeah, I guess." He said quietly. He _did_ recall the numerous scenes that were kissing in and sometimes even more than just kissing. Those scenes should be … interesting.

"And we're gonna have to practice. You just get ready. I'm gonna make Miss Dani jealous.**" **Destiny replied hopefully. If only it was that simple, Dani didn't usually get jealous very easily at all.

"No, we won't." Matthew replied quietly.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because she knows that we're just friends. Nothing's gonna happen between us." He said with an air of disappointment. Where the hell did that come from? Why would he be disappointed at that? He never felt anything like that before.

"But you think something's gonna happen between Nate and Dani." She stated. Thank god she completely misread what he meant although he did think that was true too. He reached out and grabbed the two tickets out of his pockets walking toward the doorway.

"Are those..." She gestured to what was in his hands.

"Prom tickets." He replied playing with them in his hands.

"Did you ask Dani?" Destiny asked him.

"Not yet." He said. Matthew didn't really know why he didn't it felt like some unseen force was stopping him from doing it.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked. That seemed to be the question of the day but he knew the answer as much as her which meant he didn't know why.

"You think she'll say yes?" Matthew asked unsurely.

"Sure, why not?" She replied. They both reached for the last cookie which he split in half and gave the other part to her; there was slight spark when their hands touched. Destiny then gave him a warm hug and said goodbye leaving him sitting on the bed deep in thought. But it _wasn't _about what she thought.

He couldn't stop thinking his Mom's and Clint's wedding, more specifically the hour or so before it even began…

*Flashback*

_Matthew rolled to the front of the church in his new wheelchair. _

"_Am I being a jerk? You know, getting in my mom and dad's face about this surgery? I mean, you created this, right? The doctor, the idea of the surgery. None of this would exist if you hadn't made it happen. Look, my parents are really upset, and today's my mom's wedding day. I didn't want to file the lawsuit. I just thought I had to. I mean, they wouldn't even listen to me. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have blackmailed them, but I didn't end up telling my Uncle Clint that I saw my mom and dad kissing. I just couldn't hurt them like that." He paused taking a breath._

"_So am I gonna make it? Well, you can't tell me, but how bad could it be, dying? I mean, I go to the O.R., I'm excited about getting my legs back, and...I just don't wake up. At least my last thoughts would be dropping back, hitting a 3-pointer to win the game." _

"_Matthew ... (he turned around at the sound of her beautiful voice) if I thought for one second that you were gonna die, I'd never let my brother do the surgery, ever." Destiny exclaimed leaning over to hug him. He had to force himself not to look at her cleavage or think about how right this felt. _

"_I'm not gonna die. It's just my parent's keep bringing it up." He replied trying to focus._

"_My__brother would never let you die." She replied crying slightly. Does she always have to look gorgeous?_

"_I know. I was just- whatever. Look, don't cry." He said trying to reassure her. He didn't like it when she did it broke his heart._

"_I'm not crying. (Sniffling). So, the wedding is still on?" Destiny said trying to maintain her composure._

"_As far as I know." He replied unsurely. _

"_After your parents were kissing? Your dad's letting her marry your uncle? So he doesn't know?" She asked slightly confused._

"_No, he almost found out." Matthew answered._

"_How?" She asked_

"_From me. Told him that if they didn't sign the consent form to my surgery, that I'd rat them out." He replied._

"_You blackmailed your parents?" Destiny asked quite shocked._

"_Only they called my bluff. They told me to go right ahead and tell my uncle. I just couldn't hurt them like that." Matthew said._

"_You're a good person." She said._

"_Well, I'm still suing." He replied._

"_So tell me again why your mom is marrying your uncle if she's kissing your dad." Destiny said._

_He rolled his eyes. "Parents, they think they have all the right answers, when they're really screwed up."_

_Destiny then took a seat on the front pew. "I'm glad there's gonna be a wedding. Even if they're all messed up, everybody always looks so beautiful, even Shaun. The boy cleans up. I can't wait till your sister sees him in his tux. He looks smokin'." All Matthew could think about was how gorgeous she looked in that dress; thank god he was sitting down or otherwise… well it would be rather embarrassing to say the least. _

"_So do you." He replied. She looked so surprised that he said that. Well, he couldn't help the facts._

"_I do? You do, too." She said smiling that beautiful smile of hers. All of a sudden there was this magnetic charge attracting him to her luscious lips._

*End of Flashback*

Man how different things would have been if Tea didn't interrupt them. He thought that maybe the two of them would be together or they would have tried to forget the entire thing ever happened. She would have been his first kiss if it did happen that is. All of a sudden he heard his parents coming down the hall. He got off the bed and shoved them in his back pocket. Wiping his hands on his pants, he then greeted them. From the look on their faces they had no idea what was going on with him let alone that anything was different from normal. That was good since he really didn't want anyone to know what was going on in his messed up brain. He didn't know what in the world was wrong with him but his mind seemed like a roller coaster, going one direction one minute then all of a sudden changing course. His parents didn't even seem to notice his distraction and not too much later they had to leave anyways. The time went by very quickly and before you knew it they were leaving and on their way home. His mom just kept going on and on about his dad and their upcoming wedding. She kept on going until they got home.

"I'm just going to bed mom." Matthew said.

She glanced at him a bit puzzled. "Already? Are you sure your ok, sweetheart?" She asked.

"Yeah I'm fine," He lied, "just had a long day."

"Oh yeah I forgot you had rehearsal today too, sweetie. You go on to bed." She said kissing the top of his head.

He then went into his room and checked his phone to see if he got any new voice mails or texts. Matthew then saw he had two new texts, both from Destiny. Man he couldn't get her out of his head not even for a minute. The first one was asking him to tell his dad that she hoped he got better and the second one said that she hoped he was doing well and I'll see you tomorrow. He sent her a quick reply and then turned off his phone. Then he quickly changed into his bed wear and soon fell asleep thoughts echoing in his mind.

*Dream*

_He awoke to find himself in his bedroom and heard the shower running. As soon as the noise was there it was gone. He got out of his chair and looked to the bathroom door wondering who the hell was in his bathroom because the last thing he could remember was falling asleep alone in his bed, not his chair. Matthew looked up at the sound of the bathroom door opening and out walked Destiny in a towel her bra straps clearly showing._

"_Destiny, what are you doing here?" He asked confused._

"_You mean you don't remember last night, weird." She replied then talking off her towel standing there in nothing a black lacy bra with matching panties._

_Matthew just stood there he couldn't keep his eye off her body, lingering on certain areas more than others. He felt himself being very turned on by her right now even more than before._

"_It seems like someone is excited." She said looking him up and down. He too looked down and noticed his erection straining against his jeans._

"_I just can't help myself." He said blushing._

"_No need to be embarrassed it's not like I haven't seen it before." Destiny replied chuckling. _

"_So we?" He asked looking deeply into her eyes._

"_Oh yeah multiple times and that was just last night." She said smirking._

"_Wow." He replied._

"_That's one word for it, and it seems like a certain somebody wants more."Destiny said looking down._

"_Definitely." Matthew replied in some sort of trance._

"_So then do I have to kiss you or are you going to do it?" She asked flirtatiously._

"_Does this answer your question?" He asked coming up to her and kissing her._

_Man this was incredible like he felt sparks when their lips touched. Not much longer he parted his mouth and soon his tongue was on her lips begging for her to part them and when she did oh man it was like heaven she tasted that good. It became what seemed like forever before either of them broke apart. Destiny was the one to stop, he could feel her breathing heavily as he reached out and touched her chest causing her to moan. That officially was his new favorite sound._

_"You have way too much clothes on." She said running her hand over his shirt causing electric sparks within him._

_"Then we have to take care of that don't we?" Matthew replied flirtatiously. _

_Destiny took it from there placing her hands at his waist and hastily pulled off his shirt. After pausing a second to look at his chest she made her way to his pants, first unbuttoning them and then she tugged down his zipper and pulled down his pants. He immediately felt the relief from his constricting pants, kicking them off to the side. They resumed to their previous activity of making out but soon that wasn't enough._

_"Need More." He groaned feeling the strain against his boxer shorts._

"_Let's change that then." She replied tugging down his boxer shorts letting his erection spring free._

_Matthew sighed of relief noticing her licking her plump, juicy lips at the sight. She then started placing kisses on his chest, and then began alternating between sucking the two causing him to moan._

"_Now whose wearing too much clothes." He said when he was finally able to control himself._

"_Why don't you do something about it then?" She said flirtatiously a grin spread across her face. He groaned, reaching and unhooking her bra letting it fall to the floor. His grazed lingered appreciatively at her large breasts and her rock hard nipples._

"_Beauty in its finest form." He said panting. Matthews's mouth latched onto one while his hand went to the other. He could hear her moaning his name louder and louder as his mouth and hand alternated from the two._

"_Need more." Destiny moaned. He removed his hand and mouth reluctantly from her chest and proceeded to rip off her underwear. Matthew then noticed that she was dripping wet._

"_Looks like I'm not the only one who gets excited." Matthew said grinning._

"_What can I say; you make me really really horny." She smirked. He then kissed her pushing her onto the bed. They made for what seemed like eternity when he broke apart from her grabbing a condom off the nightstand and sheathed himself. She parted and he plunged into her causing them both to have intense orgasms. They continued making love for a couple more hours before falling asleep._

*Present*

Matthew then woke up sheathed in sweat. What the hell was that? Since when did he have sex dreams about _Destiny_? He sprang out of bed noticing the stain on his boxers and his hard on. Great, time to take a cold shower then he turned off his alarm already awake for the day anyways. He walked into the bathroom shutting the door behind him. Great, just what he needed to start the day off.


	2. Chapter 2

a/n:hoped you guys enjoyed the last chapter. Please let me know what you think and any advice for future fics is welcome. As I said before I don't own the character's or dialogue owned by one life to live. Enjoy!

**A Play for Love – Chapter 2**

Boy was today tough. He had to try his best to keep his cool around Dani _and_ Destiny. No one could know about his dream last night. It was hard (for lack of a better word) but he managed to do it. As soon as the last bell rang, he sprang out his seat and off to rehearsal where he would have to see Nate, Dani and _Destiny. _Crap how was he supposed to keep his cool when all three of them were going to be there, talk about uncomfortable. Matthew rounded the corner and ran into a flustered Destiny walking out of the auditorium shutting the door. That was a familiar site; he thought like from your dream – stop it!

"Destiny. What's wrong? You don't look so hot." He asked concerned and boy was the last part a complete and utter lie. You like Dani and not Destiny, Dani. He felt like his mind was trying to play tricks on him.

"Must be butterflies, that's all." She replied stuttering slightly. Yeah he knew how that felt.

"You're telling me. I'm clueless about playing Markko-I mean, loving Langston and everything. We should go over those scenes." Matthew said, better to get it over with faster and that was only _part _of the reason he was nervous. He went walking toward the auditorium when he felt her hands pushing him away.

"No, you can't go in there" Destiny replied. Why shouldn't he go in there?

"I don't get it. Why can't I go in there?" He asked confused.

"Because someone's in there." She answered a bit shyly and nervously. Why would that be any reason not to go in there, something else was going on!

"It's a school gym. There's room for more than one person." What in the world was going on in that auditorium that he couldn't see.

"It is more than one person. It's two people." She said stuttering slightly.

"So?" Matthew replied. There's room for more than two people in there.

"Well, they're kind of making out." Oh now he could tell why she didn't want him in there.

"It's Dani and Nate, isn't it? They're kissing." Part of him cared and the other part really didn't .He went to the door when he felt Destiny's hands on his shoulder pushing him away. 

"Caught you. Talking about us. Something about us kissing?" Matt turned around at the sound of Nate's Voice and noticed that Dani was with him not even saying a single word. Why did he have to keep lying to everyone? It sucks!

"Uh, I don't know what you guys think you heard, but we were just talking about the play." He said stumbling over his words slightly which luckily no one noticed. Or at least he didn't think they did.

"Some heavy stuff in there." Nate remarked.

"Hot and heavy." Destiny said standing there looking cute twirling with her hair. What the hell is wrong with his head? He felt like it was on drugs or something.

"Dani and I actually went over our scenes last night. It really helped, right, Dani?" Nate replied looking over at Dani who just looked down.

"Heads up. Coming through" Matthew heard Markko say. He looked over at Destiny who had this look of panic on her face. What was up with that?

"Wait, wait. You can't go in there. No! Wait, wait, no!" Destiny yelled rushing in with Markko. Why wouldn't Destiny want Markko to be in there? This day was getting stranger by the minute.

"Langston?" He heard Markko say.

"Markko?" Langston questioned.

Destiny then left the auditorium and he gave her this weird look but she just looked away. Matthew saw Mr. G coming so they all made their way into the auditorium behind him.

"Hey, Markko. Glad you could make it. Guys, Markko has an announcement to make.**"** Mr. G said. Yeah why was Markko here, he didn't go to this school anymore and why would that bug Destiny so much?

**"**Yeah. I'm making a video of "Starr X'd Lovers" from rehearsal to final curtain." Markko replied. Why in the world would he do that for?

"What do you mean a video?" Matthew asked a bit confused.

"Like a documentary?" Dani asked. That was the first word she had said all day which was quite strange.

"Are we gonna be on TV?**" ** Destiny asked. Boy was he glad that something's never change.

"No. No. I'm doing it for Langston. It's not every day my girlfriend's musical gets produced, and I wanted to make a video diary so she'll never forget it.**"** Markkoanswered. That sure was a nice thing of him to do.

"Ok, leads, let's get started. We're gonna mark through some of the more dramatic material today, so get ready." Mr. G said as he, Dani and Nate made their way to the stage.

"I can't believe you would do that for me." Langston remarked.

"Why not? I'm way proud of you, babe. And I love you, you freak. Nobody loves you like I do.**" **Markko replied kissing her.

Matthew looked over at Destiny who was glaring at Langston. What was her problem with Langston? He looked down at his script to look over the scenes they would be doing today. He paged through his script when he got to the page he was looking for. Oh, crap. He and Destiny were doing a kissing scene today. Just when he was trying to get over last nights freakish dream about having sex with her and liking it. Now he was gonna do it for real. Kiss her, not make … have sex with her though both probably would be good. What? He didn't mean that, stupid brain! It must be brain damaged for him to be thinking like this! He just sat there starring at the floor until Mr. G told them it was time to do their scene. Well here goes nothing, he thought as he and Destiny walked up onto the stage scripts in hand.

"I can't believe this." Destiny said in a bit of shock. She was quite the actress.

"I can. You're the best thing that's happened to me in a really long time, Langston. I love you." Matthew said looking into her eyes. Jeesh these lines couldn't be any closer to the truth except it would be her and not Langston. What he wasn't in love with her, I mean he did love her but just as a friend, almost like a sister.

"I can't believe how much I like the way that sounds." She said breathily. He did too! Man he wish his brain would just SHUT UP sometimes! Right now would be good!

"It's okay. You don't have to say it back. I know that some things take time." He replied. But his feelings for her sure didn't take long to form. What? He didn't have feelings for her like that.

"I want to say it. I really want to say it. I love you, Markko. I do." She said gazing lovingly in too his eyes. He leaned down and tilted his head placing his hand on her warm shoulder as he kissed her smooth magnificent lips. Though the kiss only lasted a few seconds it was just magical. He couldn't believe what he had been missing out on all this time. Even better than his dream. Crap! Not_ that_ again! How was he going to get her out of his mind now? And he had a 'girlfriend' too! Fuck, he thought reluctantly wiping her strawberry lip gloss off his mouth trying his best to keep his poker face on.

"You made me the happiest guy alive that day, and you keep doing it every day. That was awesome, you guys." Markko said happily. He glanced over at Destiny and saw her smiling. Guess that makes it two of us. It was becoming so hard not to grin.

"Thank you." Matthew replied calmly. Well as calmly as he could manage with his heart pounding in his chest and … well he just try and ignore the rest of his body for now.

"Really nice work, guys. Matthew, I thought you perfectly captured the character's sincerity-Markko's willingness to put it all on the line for this girl (that's because he wasn't acting. Yes I was you nitwit!). Something wrong, Destiny?" Mr. G asked. He looked over at Destiny and noticed she was glaring at Langston yet again. Why was she so angry at her?

"Um, I'm just working out the kinks in my character." She replied gaining her composure slightly.

"Well, you know, it was a good start. I want you to think about Langston's vulnerability. You know? She's lost both her parents. She's gotten used to being alone in the world, and along comes this guy who says, "Hey, no matter what, I'm here for you." Now, Langston wants to believe him, but it's a real leap of faith for her. And that's what makes this scene poignant. Make sense?" Mr. G asked her.

"Yeah." Destiny replied sighing.

"You can do it. All right. Good job. Let's take a 10-minute break." Mr. G said leaving the stage. Matthew moved in front of her where Mr. G had just been.

"Are you mad at Langston or something?" He asked anxiously hoping to get an answer to his one of_ many_ questions,

"You bet I'm mad. I have to play Langston, the biggest hypocrite on the planet." Destiny replied bitterly. What in the world happened to make her _this _angry?

"How is Langston a hypocrite?" He asked waiting for her answer.

"Because she's pretending like she loves Markko. He's all into her and she's just using him."

"Why do you think that?" Matthew asked curiously.

"Because she's the one I saw in here making out- and it _wasn't _with Markko. It was some other dude." Destiny said.

"Langston's cheating on Markko?" He exclaimed in disbelief.

"And there's no way the guy you saw Langston with could have been Markko?" Man this day was one interesting, to say the least, day.

Destiny shook her head. "No. He was older."

Matthew turned his head in Langston's direction seeing them with their drama teacher. "It wasn't Mr. G., was it?"

"Ew! No!" She replied repulsed.

"So, who?" He asked.

"That hot guy who teaches at L.U. I think his name is Ford?" Destiny said unsurely. There was that familiar feeling again in his stomach, but why?

"Are you positive?" Matthew asked. He hoped that she was wrong however unlikely.

"Would I say something like this if I wasn't 1,000% sure?" She retorted. True she never lied at least to him especially not about something as big as this.

"Poor Markko." Matthew remarked.

"I can't believe Langston would do this."

"I know. And I have to play her. How am I supposed to be all lovey-dovey with Markko now that I know what's really going down?" Destiny asked. He didn't really have a clue but it wasn't going to impact him because he wasn't really acting in the 1st place. Shut up brain you _were _acting!

"This is beyond weird." He remarked wistfully.

"It's a lie, Matthew, all of it." She replied a bit loudly. Oh, the irony of that statement. What do you mean -

"What's a lie? What are you talking about?" Langston asked. Shit, she heard them.

"I just meant that when I'm trying to play Langston..." Destiny said nervously trailing off looking at him for support.

"It doesn't feel real." He finished. But boy did it ever.

"Because some of the things that have happened to you and Markko haven't happened to me, so it feels like a lie." She continued on.

"Because me and Destiny aren't a couple in real life, so it's just, you know, hard to do sometimes." Matthew said lying through his teeth. He knew he wouldn't mind being Destiny's boyfriend. Man did he like the sound of that! No you don't stupid!

"I guess that's why they call it acting." Langston said turning back to work walking away as she did do. Destiny walked over to the piano leaning on it with her back exposed begging him to touch it as was her beautiful butt. He shook his head.

"Ahh. Kill me now." She said sighing.

"Okay, that was way too close. From now on, we stay out of this." Not to mention her out his head that would be nice.

"Definitely, and if Markko ever finds out Langston's cheating on him, it's not gonna be from me." She replied as they both sat down on the bleachers each absorbed in their own thoughts no matter how wrong they were.


	3. Chapter 3

a/n:glad to see that everyone is enjoying this story so far and I hope you guys continue to do so as it continues.i don't own the characters or dialogue owned by one life to live. Enjoy.

**A Play for Love – Chapter 3**

These past few days had quite hectic to say the least, especially with the beat down that Cole had with Dani's father. He felt sorry for her no one wants to see their father nearly get killed in front of their own eyes. It made him feel guilty for having these, whatever they were about Destiny. He couldn't help that his brain was damaged or whatever it was. Matthew hadn't seen Dani all day or since her fathers attack. Though it was quite understandable. He felt like there was some sort of distance between them for a little while but there wasn't too much that he could do about it. Rounding the corner right before the auditorium he saw Destiny.

"Hey, Des, what's up?" He asked curiously.

"Hey, my brother told me that your dad was getting out of the hospital today." She replied smiling slightly.

"Yeah. He did. Me and my mom brought him home." Matthew said.

"Finally some good news. Hasn't been a lot of that lately." Destiny said no doubt about Todd. He wasn't a big fan of him but that doesn't mean that he deserved to get beaten practically to death.

"Yeah. I know, especially for Dani. Have you seen her?" He asked. Maybe she would know. It seemed like everyone but him did. This situation could be frustrating at times.

"She's in there." She said motioning to the auditorium.

"Thanks." Matthew replied as he walked into the auditorium. When he got inside he noticed she was there all by herself which couldn't be good. Here we go again.

"Why are you in here by yourself?" He asked concerned.

Dani shook her head. "I'm not sure. Destiny said that being in here would bring it all back. She was right." Wasn't she always? He was trying hard to repress the swelling in his heart when he heard her name. Like _that _was working. But anyways there were more important things he had to focus on now.

"Well, let's go somewhere else." He suggested. It wasn't like he wanted anyone to go through something like especially more that once.

"No." Dani stated defiantly. Why in the world would she want to be here if it caused her so much pain?

"Dani, I'm really worried about you, ever since it all happened. I went to the hospital to look for you, but you were with your mom, so I left, and then when I came back to look for you again, you were gone." There it was there was no going back now.

"I went to the park." She said. Like _that _really explained everything.

"By yourself?" Matthew asked. It would be good if she had someone to lean one as long is it wasn't Nate.

"Look. I'm okay, Matthew. You don't have to worry about me." Dani replied defensively. What in the world did she have to be defensive of? Was she hiding something from me?

"I can't help it after everything that happened with you and your dad." All he wanted to do was help her out. Did she always have to shut him out?

"Don't call him that anymore, okay?" She said angrily.

"What do you mean?" He asked. He was trying his best to be supportive but she couldn't keep pushing him away. It wasn't fair!

"I don't want to talk about Todd Manning. He's dead to me. That's what I just told my mom. If she keeps defending him, she's dead to me, too." Dani said bitterly. He got that he hated her parents, he's known since they first met because that's what bonded them at the time but now it was just a bit annoying.

"I felt the same way when my parents stopped me from getting my surgery, but it worked out." He said. Now the three of them were closer than ever.

"Yeah, but your parents are way different from mine. I have to get away from my mother. "Although he got over his hatred of his parents it seemed like she never would.

"Can we just forget about parents for the rest of the day?" Boy he wished they could however unlikely.

"Sure. Looks like there are still prom tickets." He replied. Maybe he could go to the prom with the person he actually wanted to go with whoever it may be. Its Dani silly, he told himself.

"Yeah." Dani said.

"So do you have a date to prom?" Matthew asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, no. I just thought people were going, you know, like, as a group, only now it's like everybody is paired up." She replied.

"Yes. Maybe I would-" He got out before he was interrupted.

"Yo, Matty, Matty, my man." Darren said pulling him away from his conversation with Dani.

"What's up, Darren?" He asked once Darren took his arm off his shoulders.

"This won't take long. Man-to-man?" Darren asked. Would this guy get whatever he had to say over with already?

"Okay." Matthew said nonchalantly.

"Are you getting with my woman?" Darren asked. Who in the world was "his" woman?

"Who?" He asked confused.

"That piping-hot pop-tart over there." Darren replied. Darren motioned over to Destiny who was standing there on the stage. He quickly caught her eye and then she looked away clearly annoyed at Darren. Matthew wasn't with her but he certainly wanted to be. No you don't stupid brain!

"Destiny and I are just friends." He said once again lying through his teeth. What? He wasn't lying they were! You guys will be unless you do something about it. I don't want to okay. If that's what you want to tell yourself.

"Sweet." Darren replied relieved.

"So you like her?" Matthew asked curiously. Why in the world do _you _care?

"What's not to like, man? Beauty, charisma, brains. She's bossy. (He saw Destiny give Darren the hand) Ooh, the hand. Ooh! I am asking her today." Darren replied. Matthew couldn't help but agree with him about those things and how very true they were. Stop it! You do not have feelings for Destiny.

"To prom?" He asked. There was that familiar feeling in his stomach again the he was trying desperately to ignore. Yeah like _that _was working! Yes it was stupid brain because it wasn't there in the first place.

"Yeah. I'm going big." Great, just fucking fantastic!

"Good luck with that." He said once again lying through his teeth.

"Uh, you have a date?" Not since you practically stole mine from under my feet. You want to go with _Des_—Dani _not _Destiny!

"I don't know yet. Maybe not at all." He said with fake nonchalance not letting his _clearly_ misguided emotions affect him. Matthew walked back over to Dani who was sitting with Nate, who got off the table once he approached.

"Sorry we got interrupted. Apparently, I'm Darren's new best friend." He said with a hint of jealousy. Wasn't he sooo lucky!

"Congratulations. Later." Nate said leaving them alone.

"Yeah." Dani said.

"So what was I saying before?" Matthew asked. Before he could get an answer there was a commotion on stage. Oh, great it was his new bff!

"Hello? Testing. Are we live?" He heard Darren say. All of a sudden out of nowhere a piano started playing.

"Destiny Evans, this is for you. [Darren began singing] Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight when it's exactly 12:00 prom night where will you be then? Will you be with me?" Darren sang leaving the stage. How in the world was he supposed to compete with this guy? Not that he really wanted to that is.

"Ah, but in case I stand one little chance here comes the jackpot question in advance what are you doing prom night Destiny, Destiny?" Oh thank god that guy was done singing; it was begging to become quite annoying. Everyone started clapping including him, but he was just glad he was done, and well of course Destiny wasn't who he could tell was _not _amused.

"Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm here all week, night and day, until Miss Destiny says -" He only stopped when Destiny (thankfully) pulled him off to the side. For some reason he felt his eyes being drawn to her. She looked especially beautiful today not that she did look good every other day but she had this sort of glow surrounding her. What in the world was wrong with him? Was her under some sort of mind control or something? Whatever it was it wasn't going to happen ever again. Ever.

"Oh, that guy has got nerve." He said pretending to be impressed when really he felt this burning anger inside of him for some strange reason.

"Yeah, and a future as a lounge act." Dani remarked. Yeah like those one that like no one but three people would see.

"Yeah, right. So what did Nate want?" Matthew asked abruptly changing the subject.

"Oh, he was just saying hi."She replied. Yeah right like he was supposed to believe that he wasn't _that _stupid.

"So what's up?" She asked.

"Uh, well, I feel a little lame now that I didn't prepare a musical number or anything, but I was just wondering if you wanted to go to prom together." He asked softly.

While he was waiting for Dani to answer him he couldn't help notice that Destiny was looking over at him in a strange way. Wasn't it interesting the second after he asked Dani to prom Destiny was looking at him. But that didn't mean anything right? It wasn't like a sign or anything was it? He overheard her agree to finally go out with Darren. Then out of nowhere he felt this strange ping in his chest. Sometimes life just sucks.

"Sorry for the bad timing with your dad and everything. I just thought maybe you'd want to forget it for a night." That among many _other _things he wanted to forget.

"Yes." She said.

"Yes?" He asked just to make sure he heard her correctly.

"Yes. Let's go to prom together." She repeated.

"Awesome." He replied. While half of that was true the other half of his heart seemed to be tugging him in another direction.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer:don't own the characters or dialogue owned by one life to live

A/N:glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter and hope you continue to enjoy the story. Enjoy and read on!

A Play for Love – Chapter 4

Today was prom night. He didn't know whether he was nervous or excited. To say his emotions were conflicting would be an understatement for sure. He keep having these dreams in which he would have choose between two things but he always woke up before it could be revealed what he was forced to choose between . Dani still had been a bit distant ever since he had asked her to prom and he couldn't figure out why. He was having breakfast with his dad before he went to school that day.

"Matt, how's it going?" He heard Nate ask. Was he ever going to get rid of this guy?

"What's up, Nate?" He responded.

"Who's that guy?" His dad asked him.

"Some kid from school. We're working on the play together." It seemed like every where he turned Nate was there. It was becoming really annoying!

"Oh. What role does he play?" His dad asked him.

"Cole. Dani is playing Starr. They have a lot of scenes together." Just like you have a lot of scenes with Destiny. Yeah but that doesn't mean anything. If that's what you want to keep telling yourself. His conscious was getting quite annoying.

"And is that a problem for you?" His dad asked.

Matthew sighed. Part of him thought so but the other part not so much. "Yeah. You know what? Nate is not a problem. I mean, who is taking Dani to the prom, him or me?"

"That's a good point." His dad remarked.

"Yo, Matt, you want to run lines?" He heard Nate call out. Why not? It's not like he had anything else _better _to do.

"Sure. Later, Dad." Matthew answered walking over to join Nate at his table.

"So, Whitney said something about dinner before the prom." Nate said. Didn't she already have a boyfriend? What was up with this guy?

"So, where are you guys going?" He asked trying his best to be civil with him.

"No clue. I barely know this girl. What are we supposed to talk about?" Nate asked. Just like how Destiny barely knew Darren. Not that he cared like at all.

"Cheer leading?" Matthew suggested .

"Not funny, bro. Why don't you and Dani double with us?" Nate asked. Did this guy have to call him "bro"? It wasn't like they were really friends anyways. He would rather shot himself and triple with Destiny and Darren. Boy wouldn't _that_ be fun!

"Do people double for prom?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, come on. At least with 4 of us, we'll never run out of stuff to talk about, right?" Nate asked. More like Nate and Dani would never run out of things to talk about.

"Sure, kind of like the other day in the gym when you and Dani were talking. It didn't really look like you guys were running out of things to talk about then. You gave her a phone?" He remarked sarcastically.

"Yeah, to replace the one she broke." Nate replied. When in the world did she break her phone and why didn't _she _tell him?

"Dani broke her phone?" He asked.

"The other night in the park. She didn't tell you?" Nate asked. No it's not like she told him much of anything.

"No." He replied.

"She was freaking out about all this stuff with her dad and I don't know what made her do it, but she took her phone and she chucked it. Luckily, I was there to pick up the pieces." Nate said. Like he was supposed to believe that load of garbage!

"So you were in the park, Dani broke her phone, and then what?" He asked.

"Like I said, she was upset, so we talked. She seriously didn't mention any of this?" Nate asked. No she never talked to him about Nate; he always heard it from him.

"Seriously, no." Matthew replied.

"Huh. Why? Nothing happened."Nate said. Something was off with this guy.

"Why would something happen?" He asked. It seemed like something did happen with the way this guy kept talking.

"Right. Yeah, why would it? So that's the deal. Nothing happened." Nate said clearly trying to convince him but doing a really bad job. Then all of a sudden Nate got up and left so went back over to join his dad.

"What just happened with your friend Nate?" His dad asked. Like that guy was his friend who was clearly after Dani. Yeah just like you clearly have feelings for Destiny. No I don't , I like Dani.

"Nothing. Just found out Dani and him hung out the other night and she didn't tell me. So I have to go to prom wondering why she didn't." He said.

"Oh, you don't have to do that unless you want to." His dad replied. Yeah like he'd forget about something like this.

"I can't just forget about it, Dad." Matthew remarked.

"No, you talk to Dani. You give her a chance to explain." His dad suggested. Like his girlfriend told him _anything_.

"You think?" He asked. His dad was pretty smart being the police commissioner and all.

"Yeah, I think. Yeah, get it all out in the open. Otherwise, how are you gonna have a good time tonight?" His dad pointed out. He did have a point.

A short while later he headed over to Dani's place. Maybe she'd finally tell him the whole truth this time. After he knocked on her door she let him in.

"Hey! Guess I'm not the only one skipping school today." She greeted him happily. It seemed like she was happy to see him or so it appeared.

"Yeah, well, my first period teacher gave us time to study for exams. Are you okay?" He asked. Why wasn't she at school?

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. It's actually my mom's idea. I'm about to go hit the vending machine. Do you want to come?" Dani asked him.

"Oh, sure, um... can I talk to you about something first?" He asked. Hopefully she would be honest but who knows she wasn't the 1st time.

"What?" She asked him curiously.

"You said the other night that you went to the park, right? You didn't mention seeing Nate there. He told me he saw you." He said as nonchalantly as he could manage at the moment.

"Yeah, Nate was at the park. Why?" She asked like it didn't really matter. But it did if his girlfriend was cheating on him! You know you want to be with Destiny. No I don't! I'm fine!

"Well, I guess I just got the feeling that you were alone. Then Nate started telling me this story about how you broke your phone and everything. I don't know. I just...got this weird feeling. And then Nate said nothing happened between you two, even though I didn't ask him if anything happened between you guys. So I don't know why he thought it was necessary for him to say that." He managed to spit out.

"Maybe because something did happen." She admitted somewhat sheepishly.

"What?" Matthew cried outraged. Why did she cheat on him? And with Nate of all people!

"We –We kissed." She said. What she and Nate kissed? Did he not mean anything to her?

"You kissed?" He said trying to make sense of all of this.

"Yeah." She replied. Great, just freaking great. He was probably the one that kissed her, the asshole.

"Nate kissed you?" He exclaimed.

"No. I kissed him." Dani admitted looking at him nervously.

"I mean, it came out of nowhere." She tried to convince him.

"So you kissed Nate for no reason?" He asked. So she just did it spur of the moment? Did being in a committed relationship mean nothing to her?

"Well, I was confused." She replied. Well she's not the only one!

"Well, so am I." Matthew remarked.

"Okay, well, I was at the hospital with my mom, and Todd coded. All the doctors came running, and I felt bad for him, and I started to think that maybe he didn't do this terrible thing, and if he didn't, then maybe...but then John McBain showed up and arrested Todd for attacking Cole's mom, and everybody started fighting, and I didn't know what to think again. I mean, it was just noise and Todd in the middle of it freaking everybody out. It was so intense." She described.

"Well, I get that!" He exclaimed. He wasn't that stupid.

"Okay, so I went across the street to the park just to breathe, you know, only I couldn't and then Nate was there and-" She explained before he interrupted her.

"And what?" he asked. Man he couldn't wait to hear this one!

"He was nice. He was just really nice and sane. It made me think that everything was okay. And I kissed him, but it didn't mean anything." She continued.

"Okay." He replied. Hopefully she meant it this time.

"No, I swear." She said.

"So it didn't mean anything?" He asked her just to make sure she got it right the first time.

"Not at all." She denied.

"So you don't like Nate?" He asked only to be met with silence and confusion.

"Do you like Nate?" Matthew repeated.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Was she stupid or something? How much more clearer could he get?

"You know what I mean." He retorted.

"Well, he's a nice enough guy, but I barely know him." Sounds like Destiny relationship with Darren except those two have not kissed. At least not yet but if you keep on continuing with the stupidity act they will. It's not an act I have absolutely no feelings for Destiny! Liar, liar pants on fire!

"So it's not a thing, you and Nate?" He asked to make sure she wasn't lying to him once again.

"No. It's totally different than you." She replied seriously.

"I'm sorry you felt so bad." He remarked. No one deserved to be in that much emotional pain.

"Matthew." Dani said.

"Why didn't you just call me?" He asked. Didn't she read the text message he had sent her the other day?

"Well, I was out of it. I was just reacting to everything, that's all." She answered. Geesh all she had to do was say no!

"Well, next time, just hit "reply."" He said bitterly.

"What?" She asked confused. There was a lot of that going around lately.

"I texted you." He replied. Was she stupid or just faking it?

"When?" She asked him.

"That day. The day I was looking for you at the hospital. I figured I would just, you know, text you and let you know that if you needed to talk to somebody, you had me." Matthew replied.

"Look, if I had gotten your message, I would have called." She said a bit defensively.

"It's not like its mandatory or anything." He said. Yeah nothing in this so called "relationship" is!

"I know." She replied.

"I mean, if you'd rather talk to someone else." He replied. Yeah like your buddy boy Nate.

"No. No. You're great. I don't even deserve you." Dani replied. He better not just be some sort of consolation prize.

"Don't say that." He said.

"Well, it's true. You're amazing to me, and I screwed up." She replied with a hint of remorse.

"Well, it's not even like it was that big of a deal, was it? " Matthew asked. This was her last chance to be honest with him.

"Yeah, but I hurt your feelings." She replied. That was quite true even more so than she could imagine.

"Don't worry about me. Plus your life is tough right now." He said. His life was quite easy right now except for his conscience playing tricks on him.

"Still..." She replied.

"I mean, it'd be different if you liked Nate... that way." He remarked.

"I don't." She quickly replied. As long as that _was_ true.

"Then it's all good. We'll go to the prom tonight... if you still want to?" He asked.

"Of course I want to go to prom with you. I mean, didn't you see?" She said gesturing to all the garment bags surrounding her.

"Oh, I just thought maybe your closet exploded." He replied.

"Oh, yeah. I'm all satin and sequins most days. No. These are prom dresses." She said sarcastically.

"So how many times do you have to change tonight?" He asked.

"Uh, I have to pick just one, but Renee let us bring up a bunch. That's why my mom let me skip today. We tried them all on." She answered.

"So which one?" He asked. I'm sure whatever one she picked she'll look beautiful in it as will Destiny. I don't like Destiny so just stop it!

"You'll have to see tonight." She replied flirtatiously.

"All right. Well, uh, I better go. You want a ride?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. I get to skip the whole day."

"Wow. Your mom's in a good mood." He replied.

"A weird one, but I'll take it." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"So tonight?" He asked.

"I'll see you at rehearsal later." She replied.

"All right. See ya." He said ,"Thanks for not lying to me."

"So you're really not mad?" She asked.

"I can't be mad at you. But no more random park kissing." He replied.

"Only with you." She replied kissing him as he walked out the door and for some reason he could help comparing it to his kiss with Destiny.


	5. Chapter 5

**A Play for Love – Chapter 5**

Ever since he and Destiny kissed each other for the first time he couldn't help comparing it to the ones with Dani and well there was one clear winner. But he didn't have feelings for Destiny, right? He had deep feelings for Dani and only her. If you want to keep lying to yourself there's nothing I can to do to stop it unless … unless what? Are you _sure _you want to know? Sure. Okay I warned you. Here's what you got to do: spend time some one on one alone time with each of them without any smooching and find out which one you want to kiss more. What? Why? I warned you that you wouldn't like it, it's either you do that or I will leave you alone until you stop being so stupid. I am not doing that because I am not _being_ stupid! Ok, fine just to let you know that your thought won't be filtered anymore unless you finally come to your senses! And just like that his conscience disappeared. Lovely now what in the world was going to happen to him? Fuck! He thought as he walked into the auditorium a couple minutes before rehearsal was set to begin. Those two minutes ticked by very slowly until Mr. G announced it was time to begin and Dani, Destiny and Nate went on stage. Man how he hated that guy. Why did he always have to go after taken women? What a jerk, it seemed like practically every girl thought he was a "dreamboat" even Destiny his best friend who he thought of as more than just a friend. He couldn't deny that she was _very _attractive but he thought lots of girls were attractive. Now it was time for them to rehearse that scene together again since he had missed them doing it together the first time since he was busy glaring daggers at Nate.

"Okay, let's take it one more time, Destiny, whenever you're ready." Mr. G said. Boy she looked hot in that sparkly sweater and those jeans. Sooo hot! Man the things he wanted to do to her!

"Okay. How lame is this party? I mean, why are we even here?" Destiny said twirling her hair on her finger looking innocent and sexy at the same time. He looked over to see Darren looking at her like a puppy, that guy should know better than to hit on his woman! Even though technically she wasn't but things could change.

"I don't know. Who's that?" Dani replied looking at Nate which was bothering him less and less by the minute.

"I think he's on the football team. I don't know his name. Whoever he is, he's cute." Destiny said appreciatively. Even though he knew that they were acting he felt that familiar feeling of jealousy in his stomach.

"That was great, everybody. Brings us back to the first number." Mr. G said shaking him out of his fog.

"Some of us have appointments, Mr. G., like to get our hair done for the prom." Whitney said. Could this girl be any more annoying? Or self centered?

"Oh. Well, then let's get right to it. (Matthew took his spot on stage next to Destiny) First number, from the top! Okay, Darren and Whitney, you're on." Mr. G announced turning on the music.

"I want you to imagine that you're in costume, and you're on the stage with the set and the lights. 5, 6, 7, 8."

*Fantasy Performance*

"_The brightest star in the world the brightest star in the world."Darren sang as Whitney danced behind him._

_Dani was propelled to the front. "Bright stars shining dark like blinding sky or a burning wish that I might find then maybe feel it coming this love story wishes make right." _

_Then Nate went over and joined her as they sang. "We can't all be doomed from the start destined to our own broken heart." _

_He, Darren, Whitney and Destiny then joined on in. "Brightest star in the world chance for all even you, even me can be Starr X'd lovers can we all use some love in our lives? So let's dance through the night celebrate with each other oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh."_

_He made his way off to the side of the stage._

_Destiny and Dani looked at each other then went back to back as they sang looking off into the distance. "He holds my heart so near (man Destiny looked and sounded so amazing) so far from here I lose my sense it's clear we push each other, pull us undertake love over disappears." Destiny then made her way over to him and they started dancing in circles. "Can we be more than they say we can be? Maybe if we just believe just believe"_

"_Brightest star in the world chance for all even you, even me can be Starr X'd lovers can we all use some love in our lives? So let's dance through the night celebrate with each other oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh." They all sang. He then pulled Destiny into his arms grabbing her hands as she was in front of him._

"_Let's dance let's dance through the night." Whitney sang. _

"_Heads turning pumping up." Nate and Dani sang together _

"_Stories like this we love." He and Destiny sang together. _

"_Most times we're shouting out."Dani and Nate sang back. _

"_Sensationally loud." He and Destiny sang._

"_My play list random thoughts." Dani and Nate sang._

"_That's happy thank you more friend flashback, sugar rush the past is past the rest will come the brightest star in the world Starr X'd lovers the brightest star in the world Starr X'd lovers oh, oh, oh the brightest star in the world chance for all even you, even me can be Starr X'd lovers can we all use some love in our lives? So let's dance through the night celebrate with each other the brightest star in the world chance for all even you, even me can be Starr X'd lovers can we all use some love in our lives? So let's dance through the night celebrate with each other oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh oh, yeah, yeah oh, oh, oh oh, oh, oh Starr X'd lovers."Everyone sang._

*Back to present*

"Okay, have a good prom. Rehearsal after class on Monday." Mr. G said. Although he was too busy glaring at Nate to pay too much attention to what he was saying. He was about to go over to him when he felt a warm familiar hand on his shoulders causing him to turn around, when he saw her. Destiny the girl that was echoing in his mind on repeat.

"How are we gonna handle this?" She asked. He had no idea how he was going to handle having a crush on his best friend. Not to mention being greatly attracted to her. But he had a feeling she was talking about something completely different.

"Handle what?" He asked curiously.

"Seeing Langston and her boyfriend at the prom when we know she's cheating on him." Destiny replied. Frankly he didn't care too much he had enough of his own problems to deal with.

"I thought we agreed it's none of our business." He replied wide eyed. Yeah just like how they were just going to be friends and look how _that _turned out.

"I know, but it still bothers me. Every time I walk through those doors, I remember walking in on that kiss." She said.

"It was just one kiss." Matthew replied. How was he supposed to know what happened between the two? Just like you have only had one kiss with Destiny and look how that has affected you!

"Yeah, that we know of." Destiny retorted. Before he had a chance to reply Mr. Annoying decided to show up and interrupt them.

"So, here he is. The man. What time should I pick you up?" Darren asked. Could this guy be anymore full of himself? And no matter how many times he told himself it still bugged him that she was going with _Darren_ to the prom!

He saw Destiny roll her eyes at him. "I'll text you. Later." She greeted him and he nodded urging himself not to watch her leave crossing his arms. He once again felt Darren's arm on him.

"She's nuts about me." Darren remarked. Matthew sent him the look of death but Darren didn't seem to notice it. Sometimes he wished looks _did _kill.

He walked away from Darren over to where Nate and Dani were talking which also kinda bugged him but not as much as usual.

"Ahem. So I'll pick you up at the Palace at 7:00?" He asked.

"Oh, actually, could you make that Starr's house? La Boulaie or whatever. My mother's insisting." Dani replied. Like it really mattered to him.

"Yeah." He said.

"All right, we got to go. Roxy's expecting us in, like, 5 minutes. I'm taking you. Come on." Langston said pulling Dani away. Why in the world would she cheat on Markko? Anyways it wasn't any of his business.

"See you tonight." Nate called out. He had enough with this girlfriend stealer loser.

"You and me, we need to talk." He said.

"Oh, what about?" Nate asked. Was this guy serious?

"Those lips. You better keep them off my girlfriend." Matthew replied bitterly. And he wasn't _just_ talking about Dani. He better keep his lips away from Destiny too or this guy was in from serious trouble. Nate was rendered in silence. Yeah he knew the truth but if he didn't realize something from he had with him he would probably still be in the dark.

"Heard about the kiss in the park. Dani told me all about it." Matthew said a bit arrogantly.

"Okay." Nate replied nonchalantly. Like kissing another guys girl meant _nothing _to him. As the days went by he felt like tearing this guy to shreds. And Darren too. Why did he have to have feelings for two girls at once? It sucked!

"Just want to make sure you know why it happened. She was upset. It was a mistake and it's never gonna happen again." Matthew warned.

"Yeah, sure." Nate replied in a tone that made Matthew think that he was going to do whatever the hell he wanted to with Dani whether she was taken or not.

"What does that mean?" Matthew asked incredulously. The nerve of this guy!

"Nothing." Nate said. Yeah like he was supposed to believe this guy!

"Nothing?" He repeated.

"Yeah. You know, but as far as you and Dani go, it's up to you." Nate replied the left. Why in the world was everyone telling him that? Was it supposed to mean something to him? He gathered up his stuff and checked his phone noticing his mom left him a voicemail. Matthew listened to it and headed to their apartment to pick up his stuff before heading off to his uncle Clint's.

He got to his uncle's within half an hour with his tux in hand.

"Oh, good. You got my message." His mother said relieved. He still didn't know why he was supposed to get ready here of all places.

"Yeah. Uh, why do I have to get ready here?" He asked.

"Well, we thought that it would be nice if Jess had her whole family here when she gets ready for the prom." His dad replied. Well that makes sense now.

"Oh, that's right. She still thinks she's a senior." Matthew replied. It must suck to lose years of his memory even though he sometimes wished there were things he could erase from his mind. If only things were that simple.

"Yeah, and, uh, we are counting on you to keep an eye on Jessica tonight." His uncle Clint said. Not that he minded much but didn't he have enough stuff to deal with already? Not that anyone really knew that! He was trying to keep it that way.

"I don't need my little cousin to keep an eye on me. I have a chaperone for that." Jessica said walking in and out of the room. Matthew just rolled his eyes and went to get ready. Ten minutes later he headed down for pictures. Once those were done he went to pick up Dani. When he got there he ran into Markko walking up the pathway. Crap. How was he supposed to act normal in front of Langston and him knowing that she cheated on him? Boy, he had a feeling that tonight was certainly going to be a night to remember. He rang the doorbell waiting for someone to answer it and soon.

"Hey, so you're coming with us?" Markko asked once Starr opened up the door.

"Yeah. Uh, my mom wanted me to go because of Dani. You guys look great. Come on in."Starr said letting them both in. Matthew quickly made his way over to Dani.

"Hi." He said. Dani looked pretty in her dress just like he thought she would.

"Wow. You look amazing." Markko said to all of the girls.

"Thanks." Dani replied.

"Well, you guys look pretty good yourselves." Langston remarked.

"Yeah, you do." Dani agreed.

"Thanks." He replied. They took all the necessary pictures and then left to go to the prom.

He and Dani arrived the prom, when I gotta feeling came on as they walked down the so called red carpet. He saw Darren dancing with his girl Destiny and knew it was time to show this guy what he was made of. Nothing like a little of competition right? As much as he hated to admit it he wasn't that horrible of a dancer. When that was over Darren pulled Destiny on stage.

"And last, but not least, we have to elect a prom king and queen. One person, one vote. This is my date, Destiny Evans, and you spell my name d-a-r-r-e-N." Then thankfully Destiny pulled him off stage. Did that guy have to flaunt the fact that Destiny was his date in his face?

"You know I voted for you." Matthew said holding up his ballot.

"I voted for you, too." Dani replied holding up hers.

"Then in that case, I better go put these in the box." He said going off to find the box. There was a part of him that wanted to vote for Destiny, too bad you couldn't vote twice. After that he couldn't find Dani so he decided to take a seat on stage, when he noticed Starr approaching.

"Matthew, how's it going?" She asked placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Remember when we were younger; we made a time machine out of magic markers and a refrigerator box?" He asked.

"Uh-huh." She replied.

"I could really use that box right now." He said.

"Yeah?" She said.

"Yeah. I'd go back in time and change Langston's mind about writing the musical about you," only so he could go back to a simpler time one where he wasn't so torn but deep in his heart he knew that really wouldn't change anything. "That way, Danielle would've never met Nate." That was just the half of it.

"She's not into him or anything is she?" Starr asked confused.

"Yeah. No. I don't know. This just sucks." Matthew replied stumbling over his words.

"Yeah. I get what you mean. I wish I could go back in time, too." She replied. No doubt talking about a time before Cole went to jail. She walked away leaving him alone once again. She was such a good friend. Not even a minute later Destiny walked over to him. Man she looked gorgeous in her low cut and short prom dress that he also happened to know had a low cut back but he tried his best not to stare too much because well let's just say she had a "special" affect on him.

"You still think Langston is cheating on Markko?" He asked placing his hand in front of well you know very well were.

"I saw it with my own eyes." She replied.

"Yeah, but maybe it wasn't a big deal. Look. You only saw her with that guy one time, all right? Maybe it didn't mean anything. It was just one kiss." He said trying to convince himself that although he a crush on her that one kiss they shared didn't mean anything. But it wasn't working to well.

"We're still talking about Langston and Markko, right?" She asked him curiously. Oh, crap she wasn't supposed to figure out that he liked her in that way. _No _one was supposed to know that. Before he finish forming a thought Darren interrupted them. This guy seriously had the _worst _timing.

"There she is my cherub-faced Nubian goddess." Darren said happily.  
"If you care about me at all, you'll kill me where I stand." She remarked. The truth was he cared too much to do that. He didn't even want to imagine what his life would be like without her in it. Darren then pulled her away and the he located Dani and pulled her onto the dance floor. Before he knew it the song was over and if he bothered to look to the right he would have noticed something different altogether. Soon enough another song began they started dancing together again. When another song came up he asked a lonely looking Starr to dance.

"Thanks a lot for trying to help me get my mind off of Cole." She said gratefully.

"No problem." He replied softly and not a second later that song was over too. A minute later he joined her at an empty table.

"So that plan to keep you from thinking about Cole- not going so well, huh?" He asked. From the look on her face he could tell it was a big fat no. It sucked not to be with the one you love whomever that maybe. He couldn't help but notice Dani hanging out with that horrible Nate guy and Darren, unknowingly, had to flaunt the fact that Destiny was _his _date in front of his face which really bugged him. Too bad he didn't just turn around and see that one of the objects of his affection was looking right at him. A short while later he spotted Darren and Destiny looking real close awhile later. He started kissing Dani in an effort to erase the sight from his memory. But no matter for how long they kissed could he erase that horrendous sight from his head, why in the world did he have to be torn between two amazing, yet completely different girls? A minute or so later he and Dani sat at an empty table.

"You want a soda or something?" He asked.

"Oh, no, thanks. I'm fine." She replied a bit distracted.

"Maybe we should dance," He suggested hoping she would say yes to something. "I mean, if you want to."

"Sure." She replied happily. So he got up and grabbed her hand and lead her to the dance floor when he spotted on of his "buddies" Nate.

"Hey, Nate." He said placing a hand on Dani's

"Where's Whitney?" Dani asked.

"She went off with a bunch of her cheerleader friends. I don't know. Maybe they're working on their cartwheels." Nate replied sarcastically. Then he, Dani and Nate started talking when he felt a hand yank him from behind causing him to turn around. Crap it was Markko.

"Where's Destiny?" He asked. She was probably with Darren her new boyfriend. Markko yanked him into the lobby where it looked as if Destiny and Darren were about to kiss. Could his night get any worse?

"Destiny!" Markko yelled.

"Can you see the girl is busy?" Darren asked annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Destiny asked in a quiet voice.

"I need to talk to you. I'm sorry, man, it's important." Markko replied.

Darren sighed. "Almost time to crown the king and queen anyway. I should go get ready." Darren replied disappointedly.

"Don't take too long." Destiny replied slightly flirtatiously.

"Don't worry. Like the man said, just call my name and I'll be there." Darren said causing Destiny to smile. Not even a second later Markko grabbed her arm turning her around.

"What's the matter?" Destiny asked worriedly.

"Tell me everything you know about Langston and Ford."Markko asked angrily. Destiny looked over at him with her panic stricken eyes.  
"I saw it, Destiny. I was going through some rehearsal footage, and all of a sudden, there was a conversation between you and Matthew." Markko continued, as Matthew looked nervously at the ground.

"What were we talking about?" She asked.

He then looked up. "Langston and Ford."

"You said she was cheating on me with him." Markko said angrily.

"Well, maybe I got the wrong idea." She said looking at the ground.

"How, Destiny? Either Langston was cheating or she wasn't." Markko said, Matthew walked over closer to where they were.

"Well-but what if it was for the play?" She replied nervously. Matthew wouldn't want to be her right now.

"The play?" Markko questioned.

"Yeah. Langston needed help with a scene, so she asked Ford to help her act it out?" Destiny said nervously.

"Just tell him the truth, Des." He finally spoke out catching her eye.

"A couple of weeks ago, I saw Langston and Ford here. They didn't know I was here." Destiny replied.

"So what were they doing?" Markko asked.

"Kissing." She replied.

"So where's Langston now?" Markko asked her. Matthew moved so he was right behind her.

"I don't know. I saw her earlier, but now..." He trailed off taking some of the heat for her.

"Yeah, me, too. I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Hey, maybe we could find Starr. She could tell you where to find Langston." Destiny said.

"You looking for Langston?" Some guy came up to them and asked.

"Have you seen her?" Markko asked.

"Yeah. She left." The guy replied.

"When?" Markko asked.

"I don't know. A while ago." The guy replied.

"I think I know where to find her." Markko said storming off. He found Dani and off to the Buenos Dias they went. He kept on rambling in order in hopes to get his mind off of what had happened earlier.

Twenty minutes or so later they were sitting at the counter eating sundaes with _Darren _and Destiny. Matthew couldn't help stealing a loving look at Destiny. Boy even though he wanted to kill him right now he had to admit that Darren was a lucky guy.

"Oh, and how weird was it when Mr. Vega was named prom king?" Dani remarked laughing.

"How could that even happen? He's a teacher." Destiny replied a smile on her beautiful lips.

"A bunch of crushed-out girls probably wrote his name in." Darren replied as they all got up to get a table.

"You jealous?" Nate asked. He _was _but not of Mr. Vega.

"Not even close. I know my lady has only got eyes for me." Darren chuckled. He just wanted to punch the arrogant smirk off his face.

Destiny rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She scoffed as they took a seat in the booth. Out of nowhere he heard as he slipped an arm around her waist.

"Oh. Oh, it's my mom. I better get this." She said going off to another part of the diner. He then took his seat opposite Darren and Destiny in the booth.

"Uh, anybody want more soda?" Nate asked awkwardly.

"No. I'm okay." Well at least on that front he was but any other well that was not the case.

"For my lady?" Darren asked.

"Fine," Destiny grimaced as Darren left, "Having fun?" Yes now that the loser was gone from his site for the time being.

"Yeah. You?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Kind of, but I know who isn't having fun—Markko."

"You know, Matthew, it's gonna be kind of hard for us, you know, playing Langston and Markko, saying all those lines about how we're so perfect for each other, when the real Langston is cheating on the real Markko." Destiny remarked. He wouldn't really have any trouble as long as he was with her and a small part of him wished that they were perfect for each other but who knows how the future will turn out.

"Who knows? Maybe Markko forgave her, and now they're working things out." He replied. Part of him wished that were and the other knew it wasn't. He didn't know if Markko would take the same road as him.

"Seriously, would you forgive your girl if she cheated on you?" Destiny asked. Before he had a chance to respond Mr. "Wonderful" interrupted them once again.

"Say "super couple."" Darren said snapping a picture of himself and Destiny.

"You gotta admit, this one's a keeper." Darren remarked. Matthew left the table because he couldn't stand another minute with that guy.

"I promised your mom I would get you home on time, so..." He said trailing off gesturing that it was time for them to leave.

"Oh, yeah. I guess we better go. See you at rehearsal tomorrow. Final dress, big day." She said.

"Which means a long night. Later, Matt." Nate said. He just looked at him as he left with Dani.

Ten minutes later they arrived at Dani's hotel room.

"You were the prettiest girl there tonight." He said. While that may be true Destiny may have been the most sexy and beautiful girl there.

"Shut up." She said.

"It's true. I had a lot of fun tonight." He replied.

"So did I." She said. Matthew kissed her hoping to forget Destiny but imagined he was kissing her instead. When they finished kissing he was in a daze so he said the first thing that was on his brain.

"I love you." He said breathily when he opened his eyes fully he realized that he was with Dani and _not _Destiny. Oh Crap.

"That's sweet. Well, good night." She said rushing to stick her key card in the door and as soon as it opened she practically ran inside. Boy this wasn't how he pictured their date ending. He couldn't believe that he told Dani he loved her and well he did but imagined that he was saying it to Destiny. Crap was he really in love with Destiny or was he just caught in the moment?

He left the place and made his way to the Buenos Dias in hope that he could find someone that always made him happy. Destiny. He opened the door to the diner glad to see her still there and she was smiling into her sundae for who knows what reason.

"Thank God you're still here." He said relieved rushing over to her side.

"My parents are late. Darren already went home." She replied dreamily. What happened while he was gone? It seemed like Destiny had done a 180 from where she was when he left here.

"So you really like the guy, huh?" He asked curiously. Please say no, please say no!

"He's all right. He grows on you. Like a weed. (One that he wanted to go away) But hey, don't I have a right to be as happy as you are?" She remarked. The last thing he was right now was _happy. _

"You think I'm happy?" He replied bitterly.

"Don't even try it. I saw you out there with Dani tonight. You guys had a really good time." She remarked.

"I know. We had a really good time. Uh, I just told her I love her." He said.

"What? That is, like the stupidest thing you could have ever done." Destiny exclaimed.

"Thanks for the sympathy, Des." He replied bitterly.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I've been down that road before, remember? (How could he forget, he looked down) You say, "I love you," the other person's not ready to hear it. I'm right, aren't I? She didn't say it back." Why did she have to always be right? Sometimes it sucked.

"No, but I mean, we're going out." He replied.

"So?" She asked.

"So that means something. I'm not just some guy popping into her life for a little while." He said.

"You mean, like Nate?" She asked. Or Darren he thought bitterly. Just when he was going to reply Destiny got a text saying that her parents were there.

"I got to go." She said.

He went over to her giving her a hug sparks went a flying when his hands made contact with her bare back and her arms went around his neck. She let go just as he got a sniff of her lavender shampoo. She then walked out of the door waving at him. He managed a weak smile and returned the wave plopping back into the booth when she left his sight. Just then at that precise moment he realized that he was absolutely positively in love with her. Crap.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: don't own the characters or dialogue owned by one life to live

A/N: glad everyone is loving this story so far. Enjoy!

**A Play for Love – Chapter 6**

Today had to be the longest day ever in his life. He had to be the same room as the girl he had said I love you to, the one he was actually in love with who also happened to be his best friend, that guy that was after the one he had said I love you too and the guy that was after the girl he was in love with. Matthew had to keep his emotions in check the entire day. He had to act like everything was normal between him and Destiny, like he had not just realized he had feelings for, and she was thankfully none the wiser. Darren who he had to resist the urge to knock the living daylights out of, Nate the guy he should want to do that to and his so called gf who pretty much avoided him the entire day. That had actually made that part quite easy! Also not to mention the constant scenes where he and Destiny said I love you. Oh, and the scenes where they had to use tongue in which he had to try not to get too carried which was hard in more ways than one especially since she was a really great kisser. Every time _that _happened he felt like there were fireworks going off, 4th of July type fireworks that he hadn't felt before even with his well whatever she was at the moment. Also it didn't help his jealousy that was stirring inside when he saw Destiny and Darren talking after rehearsal so he had gathered his stuff and hightailed it out of there. Needless to say that it was an emotionally and physically tiring day so it was quite understandable that he crashed as soon as he hit the pillow.

*Dream*

_He awoke again seemingly naked and surprisingly not alone. Turning to his right he noticed that Destiny was lying there butt naked next to him with the sheet only covering a sliver of her toned backside. He heard her whimper as he was about to get up out of bed. Matthew carefully lifted the sheet off himself exposing his rock hard dick. He climbed onto her back and began massaging her shoulders causing her to let out a throaty moan. Then he delicately brushed her hair away from her neck and gently began sucking on what he already knew to be one of her favorite spots causing her to let out another throaty moan even loader than the one she had let out before._

_"Good Morning." He said in a throaty voice. He saw her eyes slowly open as she looked up at him and smiled that sultry smile off hers._

_"It is now." She replied breathily. He leaned down and began kissing her in what shortly became a battle of tongues causing him to grow even harder than he was before._

_"It seems like someone is excited if that is what is poking my back is you penis." She said excitedly._

_"That it is my love, don't you love what you do to me?" He asked smiling his smile that he knew made her toes curl._

_"Oh, Definitely I do babe but don't you want to feel what you do to me?"Destiny purred. _

_"Is that a rhetorical question because I am pretty sure you already know the answer to that." He replied grinning._

_"Well then Mr. Happy you need to get off my back." She answered. _

_"But that's no fun." He said pouting._

_"Well, if you don't get off of me you won't get to see how much you turn me on." Destiny replied and it only took a second for him to get off of her. She pulled off the sheet and rolled over exposing herself to him. Grabbing his hands she led them to her rock hard nipples causing him to moan. After a few minutes of that she led his hands down her toned stomach and down to her vagina where he could feel how wet and ready for him she was._

_"Wow. You're perfect." He groaned._

_"Only for you." She replied grabbing a condom from the nightstand tearing it open with her teeth. Then she slowly but deliberately slid it onto his rock hard member. He was trying his best not to let himself go and she was making that nearly impossible. _

_"Do Me." She said breathily spreading her legs ready and waiting for him. It took no more encouragement on her part. He entered her fast and hard causing them both to climax within seconds of each other. _

_*Back to the Land of the Living*_

This had been the second time he had a sexy about Destiny and it was driving him crazy. He looked down and noticed that what had happened last time had happened again. He gazed over at the clock noticing it was only 5:00 in the morning. Fuck. After _that_ dream there wasn't much of a chance that he was going to go back to sleep so he headed off to take a shower. A _cold _one at that.

20 minutes later he emerged from the shower and got dressed when he remembered that today his parents were going to get married once again. He couldn't wait. Once he got dressed he decided to watch TV for a little bit which actually turned into three hours. He decided to go out and get some breakfast for him and his parents so they wouldn't starve before the wedding. Matthew got home about 15 minutes later setting it all down in the kitchen. He quickly ate and then sat down in the living room to work on his best man speech when his phone rang. He quickly picked up when he saw it was Dani. They still hadn't talked since prom night when he told her that he loved her. The two of them exchanged in some back and forth chatter.

"Well, I'm going to be busy with my best man duties, but once I'm done with my toast, we could probably hang out." He said playing anxiously with his dads wedding rings as he waited for a response.

"That's okay. I'll be fine." She replied.

"You still want to come, don't you?" He asked. There was a part of him, the part that loved her, that wanted her to and the other that really didn't.

"Yeah, of course I'm still coming to your parents' wedding. We made a date." Dani said.

"Yeah, it's just - you know, what I said after prom to you-" He paused after hearing a knock on the door. It was probably some wedding person.

"Look, I got to go. It's hectic right now with the wedding and everything." He said.

"No problem." She replied.

"All right, I'll see you later." He said.

"Bye." She said and at that he hung up racing to open the door. He opened it and saw Destiny was on the other side holding the day's newspaper.

"Did you see this about Markko?" Destiny asked holding up the paper.

"Oh, I know. It's crazy. One second we tell Markko that you saw Langston kissing that Ford guy, and the next, Markko tries to kill him." He replied. Even after reading it himself he still had a hard time believing it. It was hard to imagine someone like Markko trying to kill a guy even if he had reason to.

"I tried to lie, but he had us on tape talking about it." She said. Also he had their first kiss together on camera.

"Well, how were we supposed to know that the camera was on?" He asked. It wasn't her fault and besides he forgot the cameras were even there the second their scene began.

"What the hell was I thinking? I should have just kept my big mouth shut." She said. He could tell that she blamed herself for all of this but it wasn't it was Ford and Langston's. Those were the two that played the largest role in breaking Markko's heart.

"Well, you can't help what you saw. You just told the truth. Besides, it ended up being a lot more than just one kiss." Matthew said trying his best to reassure her.

"Poor Markko, walking in on them. Can you imagine?" Destiny asked shaking her head.

"He probably lost it." He said. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if something like that happened to him.

"Jealousy's a killer, isn't it?" Destiny remarked. He just nodded and rolled his eyes. Boy how much more true could that statement be?

"Dani's still coming to the wedding, right?" She asked. That was one thing he _was _definitely sure about.

"Yeah. She keeps pretending like I didn't tell her I love her. You were right. That was the stupidest thing I could have ever done." He remarked.

"I'm sorry I said that to you. I keep saying the wrong things to the wrong people." She said. Why did she keep blaming everything on herself? It was _not _her fault! Neither of these thing were her fault.

"Stop blaming yourself for what happened between Langston and Markko." Matthew exclaimed. There was nothing either of them could have done to stop it from happening.

"I'm the one that needed to keep my mouth shut, _not_ you." She said still blaming herself. Man it was frustrating.

"Well, you were pretty much right on the money." He replied.

"No, I wasn't. It's not stupid to tell someone how you feel about them." She retorted. Then he should have realized earlier about his feelings.

"Well, what if she doesn't feel the same about me?" He asked vaguely. Although the person or she he was actually her _not_ anyone else.

"It hurts for a little while, but it gets better. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. You know, you should call Dani right now and clear up this whole "I love you" thing." She suggested.

"N - Today, now?" He sputtered.

"That way, you won't have to worry about it at your dad's wedding. You know you will. Call her. I'll stay, so I'll be here for you, no matter what the answer is." She said. Boy that would be nice. He was glad to have her supporting him.

"I'm lucky you're still my friend." He remarked. Yeah but there was no denying that he wanted it to be more.

"Yeah, you are." She replied causing him to chuckle. He walked to the phone wondering how he was going to go through this.

"Do you need me to dial for you?" Destiny asked.

"No, I'm - I'm okay." He replied. He was about to call her when his dad walked in.

"Hey, guys! How's my best man doing?" His dad asked cheerfully.

"Great. How's the groom doing?" He asked.

"Couldn't be better." His dad replied.

"Mr. B, is it okay if I bring a date to the wedding?" Destiny asked. That could _only _mean one thing.

"Darren?" Matthew exclaimed jealously, but he could tell they took it as shock, luckily.

"Yeah." She replied.

"Well, yeah, sure. You know, the more, the merrier. This is going to be the perfect wedding for my perfect bride." His dad said happily. Boy was he glad that Nate wasn't going to be there or it would be as fun as yesterday.

"Ow! Oh! Ow, ow! Oh!" He heard his mother exclaim from another room. What in the world was wrong with her?

"Boy, oh, boy." She said walking into the room his dad at her side.

"It's okay, I'm here." His dad said trying to comfort her.

"Oh, God." His mom said.

"Are you okay, Mom?" He asked concerned.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine." His mom replied.

"What the heck happened?" he asked her concerned.

"Oh, I used my exfoliating toner on my contact lenses instead of my lens solution. Oh." His mom said groaning.

"Ouch." Destiny winced pretty much voicing his thoughts right now.

"Look, I'm going to get the car. Somebody's got to take a look at this." His dad said. Hopefully it wasn't infected or anything. He and Destiny went off to the kitchen to fetch breakfast.

"No, no, no. I'm going to be fine; I'm going to be fine. Do I smell food?" His mom asked. He and Destiny sat down and he set the food on the coffee table.

"I couldn't sleep, so I got bagels and coffee." He replied. Hopefully no one would ask why that was true.

"Oh, my God. You are such an amazing child." His mom praised while his dad squeezed his shoulders as he shrugged.

"He is great." His dad said.

"Yeah, just like his dad." His mom replied happily.

"Aw." dad

"He just doesn't get any better than this." His mom said. He dug into the bag taking out her bagel.

"Cream cheese and walnut, your favorite." Matthew said.

"Oh, my God. That's absolutely perfect. Ungh! Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh. You're right. This is a perfect day. Ow. Oh, my tooth. Hmm." She then began mumbling incoherently. What was wrong this time?

"Red? Now, what-" His dad said getting cut off by his mom.

"Ooh." His mom groaned.

"What happened?" His dad asked.

"I think I chipped my tooth." His mom replied. That sucks!

"I think there was a walnut shell in the cream cheese." His mom went on.

"Okay, but does it hurt? You know, let's get you to a dentist." His dad suggested.

"No, no-" His mom protested.

"Come on." His dad said.

"No, I'm sure it's just a - it's just a chipped tooth, I'm sure. I'm sure it's nothing." His mom argued.

"Well-" His dad protested.

"You know, I'm going to go give it a look-see, all right? I'll be fine." His mom said

"I'll be fine." She cried out from inside her bathroom. Just then his dad's phone rang.

"Oh, jeez - Buchanan? Yeah." His dad said.

"That can't be good." Destiny remarked. He just nodded in reply.

"All right, all right, all right." His dad said hanging up the phone.

"We got to get to the church." His dad said. What was wrong _now_?

"Is something wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Well, the singer showed up and now she wants us there right away." His dad replied.

"Oh, no!" He heard his mom cry out. His dad rushed into the bathroom after her.

"Oh, no, no, no, no-" His mom said.

"Oh, no, honey - honey, look, it can't be as bad as you say it is." His dad said.

"Come on, Mom, let us see." He said.

"You might as well get a second opinion." Destiny remarked. His mom whimpered.

"Hey, hey - what's a little chipped tooth in a face this gorgeous, hmm?" His dad asked trying to reassure her. His mom slowly uncovered her tooth and it was like half gone! He looked over at Destiny and she had pretty much the same reaction as him.

"What'd I tell you? You can hardly even tell it happened." His dad said. That was practically opposite of the truth.

"I hope we make it out of here tonight with this storm coming." His dad said.

"So do I." His mom said.

"Ohh. Okay. I'm glad I got the limo for the whole day. Because you can't be driving like this. You sure you're gonna be all right?" His dad asked.

"Oh, yeah. Other than being a little accident-prone, I'm fine." She replied.

"Yeah. Matthew and I have to get to the church. Singer's got some kind of issue." His dad replied.

"Oh, God. It's probably that St. James organ. Just tell her that I don't - it doesn't matter at all. It's her voice I want to hear when we get married." His mom said.

"Yeah. The next thing I see is you walking down the aisle. You're gonna be looking right at me." His dad said.

"Hmm-mm. It is gonna be perfect, isn't it?" His mom asked.

"Yeah. If you're gonna be there, hell yeah." His dad replied.

"Hmm-mm." His mom mumbled.

"Um, could I hitch a ride with you? I gotta go home and get ready." Destiny remarked. Yeah for _Darren_. That name left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Oh, yeah. I'll have the driver drop you off." His mom replied. He bet she was going to look fantastic Destiny that is.

"All right. We'll see you guys later. Dad, I got the rings." He said.

"Okay. I got the monkey suits." His dad replied.

"Ohh." His mom groaned.

"Let's do this." He said.

"Okay. Bye, guys. I - I love you." His mom said as they shut the door.

About 10 minutes later he and his dad made their way to the church.

"I got the feeling from that wedding singer that something was wrong." His dad said, the question was what.

Matthew sighed. "Oh, my God! What is that smell? Oh!" It smelled _horrible_ in there.

"What-" His dad got out.

"Oh!" He exclaimed holding his nose.

"That smell couldn't be-" His dad got out.

"Oh, man. Nora was so happy about all these flowers." His dad said sadly.

"Oh, Mr. Buchanan! I'm so happy you're here!" The wedding singer exclaimed.

"Yeah. What happened? I - that smell? That's not what I-" His dad said before getting interrupted.

"Skunk!" She exclaimed.

"Oh, the animal control guys think the skunk got in sometime last night. And no one knew they were in here because the priests were on a retreat." She said.

"I know. Andrew Carpenter's in Savannah. He's visiting Cassíe and River, but he's flying back here. He was gonna marry Nora and me." His dad remarked. Man it smelled in here!

"I got here first thing this morning to rehearse, and when I realized what happened, I called these guys in. They're having a terrible time trying to capture the poor thing." She said.

"I know. I saw that." His dad said.

"And smelled it." He remarked.

"So one skunk and a few animal control guys - they can cause all that damage?" His dad asked.

"The skunk's frightened." She replied.

"Dad, what are we gonna do?" He asked. His dad shrugged and sighed. So he went looking around the church and found some air freshener.

"Look what I found in the janitor's closet." He remarked.

"What is that?" His dad asked.

"Super duper deodorizer." He replied.

"That's great. Son, go to work. Now maybe we can get that skunk out of here." His dad said. As soon as he got the go ahead he began spraying.

"We could change venues." She suggested.

"No, no, no, no. There's not enough time for that. It's gonna start in a few hours. I think the best thing to do is try to start airing this place out. You know, hopefully the sound of your voice is gonna take our guests' minds off all this stink. No. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No, honestly, Nora is looking so forward to hearing you sing today." His dad said. Then the wedding singer began coughing.

"I promise I'll do my very-" She started coughing again.

"Okay. Are you all right?" His dad asked.

"It's the deodorizer. I must be allergic. I-" She started coughing again.

"I'm just so sorry, you know? I didn't know that deodorizer could do that to your voice, that-" His dad spat out.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"No, no, no, that's okay. It's okay. You - you go home and just take good care of yourself. All right? Okay. Thank you." His dad said.

"Dad, what are we gonna do?" Matthew asked.

"Son - it's gonna be all right." His dad said trying to reassure him but failing.

"How?" He asked.

"You'll see." His dad replied.

A few minutes' later Brody, John and Rex arrived at the church.

"Hey, did Bo call you guys, too?" Rex asked. "What is that?"

"Skunk." John replied.

"McBain's right. It is skunk. We have a situation here, and I need your help. I promised Nora a perfect wedding, and I still plan to give it to her. Now, I'm not gonna lie to you, gentlemen. The odds are against us. Because sometimes the universe just lines up against you and everything that you really care about is on the other side. And what do you do? Do you lay down and give up, or do you continue to fight with everything you've got? Now, we can do this. For honor, for glory, for family, and for love, and - for Nora." His dad said.

"Lovett-" His dad said.

"Yes Sir." Brody replied.

"I want you to go down to the docks. I know a guy down there with a flower connection. His name is Needleman. You tell him that I sent you and this is for my wedding. Don't answer any of his question alright just give him this." His dad said handing Brody a piece of paper.

"McBain." His dad called out.

"Yes Sir." John replied.

"Please find me a wedding singer who's a quick study. Here's a list of songs Nora wants." His dad said handing him a sheet of paper.

"Yes Sir." John replied.

"Matthew." His dad said.

"Yeah." He replied.

"I want you to go to that superstore it's a couple blocks over right you buy every can of air fresher that you can find." His dad said handing him some money.

"You got it." Matthew replied.

"Alright Balsom." His dad said.

"Yes Sir." Rex said.

"I want to go to the airport pick up Andrew Carpenter. That's his flight information." His dad said.

"You got it." Rex replied.

"We will meet back here at 13:00 hrs ,and gentleman I want to thank you very much and god speed." His dad said as all of them but him left the church.

He was about halfway to the superstore when he realized that the Buenos Dias would have some heavy duty stuff and it would cost him a penny. Five minutes later when he got there he spotted Destiny huddled under an umbrella.

"Oh! Why me, God? Why do I always have to be the one catching everybody?" She exclaimed. What did that mean?

"Catching everyone what?" He asked holding his shirt over his head.

"Uh, could we take this inside, please?" He asked. He was getting soaked.

"No. I mean, nah." She replied pushing him back slightly by his chest. Couldn't she leave that hand there forever?

"Why not? We're getting soaked." He said. She looked quite beautiful and for some reason he really wanted to kiss her right now.

"Yeah, but you need to get to the church so you can get ready for the wedding." She replied.

"That's what I'm trying to do. My dad wants me to get a ton of air freshener to get the skunk smell out. Don't ask." He said.

"So you're supposed to come to a diner to get air freshener?" She asked confused.

"I was going to go to the drug store, but I figured Carlotta's got to have something industrial strength stashed in her kitchen. Come on." He replied trying to go in but she pushed him away once again. This was really weird.

"You can't go in there." She said forcefully.

"Why not, Destiny? Why won't you let me in there?" He asked his voice slightly raspy.

"I'm not letting you in because obviously you'd be wasting your time." She replied.

"But arguing in the rain is productive?" He asked. He felt like this was a lot like some movie scene or something.

"No, but Mrs. Vega's not going to have what you need. You need what the pros use." She replied.

"And what's that?" He asked curiously.

"Hell-no-we-won't-smell. You can get it at the hardware store way far down the street. So go. You've got a wedding to deskunk for some reason. Go!" She said.

"All right, I'm going." He replied giving her a weird look as he went on toward the hardware store. He went inside found what he needed, paid then left and got to the church a short while later.

"Dad! Dad, where are you? Oh! Oh, never mind. Stay as far away from this room as possible. Uhh. Oh. Uh." He called out. When he didn't get a response he started spraying the room.

"Hey, Matthew. I'm glad-" Dani said arriving a few minutes after he did.

"Wait. What do you smell?" He asked.

"Is that a trick question? Skunk! And - new car?" She replied.

"Damn it! What are you doing here? The wedding isn't for a while." He remarked and continued spraying.

"I know, but - could you just stop spraying for a second?" She asked. Whatever it was she wanted to talk about sounded serious.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" He asked.

"Well, Matthew, I need to talk to you about something. It can't wait." She replied. Boy did this not sound good and nobody wanted to hear those words.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer:you already know by now that I don't own the characters or dialogue owned by one life to live, this is old news by now.

a/n:glad to see that everyone is enjoying this story and I hope you continue to do so. Thanks for all the positive feedback it means a lot to me :) enjoy!

A Play for Love - Chapter 7

"Why does the whole place smell like skunk?" Dani asked. When was she just going to get to what she was going to say?

"One got loose in here. I think it's gone now. And this stupid stuff was supposed to get rid of the smell but I guess it's not doing it, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah, not so much." She replied. The sooner the better would be nice.

"I-I just don't know what to do. I'm gone through like 5 cans already." He replied exasperated.

"Don't look at me. We didn't have skunks where I grew up." She said.

"Great. Then I guess I'm a dead man. So what was it you wanted to tell me?" He asked. Why didn't she just tell him already so they could get it over with?

"I should put this somewhere. I'm dripping all over the place. Wouldn't be good for the bride to slip in a puddle." She said.

"Well, if I don't get rid of this stupid skunk smell, there's not gonna be a bride." He said. Rip it off like a Band-Aid.

"You think they'd cancel the wedding?" She asked.

"Postpone it, maybe. But that would suck. Mom and Dad have been living for this day. I just...I just don't want to see them disappointed." He replied. There were only a couple of things that could come close to disappointing him like that.

"Yeah. Well, sometimes people end up getting disappointed no matter what. But you have to face the truth, so that-" He didn't like the way that this was going before she got a chance to finish what she was going to say John rushed in.

"Hey. How you doing? Your dad around?" John asked.

"Uh, yeah. He's up in the rectory getting ready." Matthew replied.

"Okay." John said.

"Wait, wait. Can I ask you something?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." John replied.

"Do you smell anything different in here?" He asked. John inhaled and exhaled.

"You mean besides skunk? No, I don't smell anything." John replied leaving.

He sighed.

"Not exactly the answer you wanted." Dani said. No kidding that was happening more and more lately.

"Just forget it. Just go back to what you were saying." He said. The sooner the better.

"Right. So...sometimes, things are hard to say because you know that they're gonna be hard to hear. But that doesn't-" She got out before being interrupted by Brody this time. This was getting to be annoying really.

"Oh, thank God you guys are here. I need some help." Brody said pointing to all the flowers.

"I can't believe you found a florist. I thought all the power was out downtown." He replied.

"That's why I got such a good deal. With no refrigeration, all the flowers were gonna die, so the guy gave them to me for practically nothing." Brody said.

"Well, they're beautiful." Dani said.

"Yeah, well, now we gotta put them around the church." Brody said.

"Wait. Maybe if we put them all around, it'll get rid of the skunk smell." He suggested.

"Maybe. We gotta move fast." Brody said.

"Let's go." He said. They spent the next 10 or so minutes placing the flowers around the church with Dani's help.

"A little to the left. Yeah. Good." She said.

"Thanks, Dani. I don't know if Matthew and I would've known where to start if you hadn't been here." Brody said gratefully.

"Glad I could help." Dani replied.

"All right. Everybody inhale." He said as they all inhaled.

"What do you think?" He asked anxiously.

"All I can smell is flowers." Brody replied.

"Me, too." Dani echoed.

"You're off the hook, dude." Brody said.

"Well, it's just about time. Breathing in that spray was about to make me lose my lunch. What's that?" He asked.

"It's a tux for your dad. Where is he, anyway?" Brody asked.

"Oh, he's up in the rectory." He replied.

"Okay. Thanks." Brody said rushing off to the rectory he presumed.

"See ya. You know, Brody's right. We never would've been able to do that flower thing without you." He said.

"It was fun. But I still need to talk to you about-"

"Wait. One second. I don't know if it was just because you're from Tahiti or not, but...I've always wanted to do that. Just like I thought-beautiful." He said placing a flower in her hair but a short while later she took it off for some strange reason.

"Don't you like it?" He asked.

"No. I do. I do. But it won't stay. It's just gonna fall out as soon as I start walking." She replied. What was up with her?

"Where are you walking to? I thought you had something to tell me." He said. He wanted her to do it the sooner the better.

"Yeah. Matthew... I just want you to know...that-" This time it was Charlie who interrupted her.

"Hey, you guys. I need to get this to Bo right away." Charlie said.

"Oh, he's up in the rect-you know what? Actually, I should start getting ready, too. I'll take it to him." He said.

"Okay." Charlie said.

"Oh, um, we can talk at the reception, okay? Promise." He said rushing up to the rectory where he saw his dad in a bath of tomato sauce or something.

"Don't ask." Rex, John, David, and Brody said in unison.

"Okay." He said.

"Is that what Gigi called about? She said Charlie was bringing something over." Rex said.

"This is it. Hey, big brother, how'd you get in here?" He asked.

"Hey, little brother. We call each other big brother and little brother. Isn't that cool? What do you mean, how did I get in here? I got my ways." David replied.

"Yeah, well, whatever you do, don't teach any of them to him." His dad said.

"Dad, I've got great news. We got the skunk smell out of the church." He said happily.

"The spray cans finally kick in?" John asked.

"Well, Brody here brought a couple million flowers, and I guess that did the trick." He replied.

"That's great. Now what about me? Am I fit to be smelled in mixed company?" His dad asked.

"I think you need a few more minutes." Rex said.

"Oh. Nora's over there thinking everything is fine. If she only knew." His dad said.

His brother came rushing in with a bottle of red wine and before he got any his dad stopped David.

"Don't even think about it." His dad said sternly.

"I tried, little bro." David said.

"You can have some of my H2O. It was a very good year." Charlie said pouring some of his water into his glass.

"Well, during this momentous occasion, I think it's appropriate to invoke the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling. "A woman is just a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke." To Bo and Nora." David said. Well that sure was interesting.

"Uh, maybe I could just add something real quick. Some people get married because they think they can live with each other. I think the best marriages are between 2 people who can't live without each other. They complete each other. They make each other stronger. So to our friend Bo, who inspires me every day. He inspires all of us every day. To Bo and Nora." John toasted.

"Salute. Hey." All of them said.

"Ahh. All right. Let's see what your mom sent over here for me to wear." His dad said as they opened the garment bag.

"Ooh." John said.

"I don't believe it." His dad said.

"Is this the one from your first wedding? This is so cool." He said.

"Yeah. This is very cool." His dad said.

"Then I guess it's time to hose you down and get you hitched." Brody said. They all chuckled. Ten or so minutes later they were all gone as he and his dad got dressed.

"Here, Dad. Let me get that." He said.

"Well. Thanks bud. Looks like we're really gonna do this, huh?" His dad asked. Matthew patted him on the back.

"Ha ha. What's that for?" His dad asked.

"I never thought it could really happen, you and Mom getting remarried. There's nothing I ever wanted more." He said. It was mostly true.

"You look awesome, Dad." He said.

"I can't believe this thing still fits. Mostly." His dad said.

The wedding went by smoothly with only a few mishaps which was to be expected at a Buchanan wedding. After the wedding Darren challenged them to a dance off then headed off to the reception Destiny in tow.

"You want to head over to the reception? I got my toast all ready." He said to Dani once they were practically alone.

"Well, actually, could we stay here a minute? I need to talk to you." She said.

"About what?" He asked.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" He asked again.

"Maybe we should sit down a minute." She said. He did not like the sound of where this was going.

"Wait. We should head over to the reception. You did hear Darren challenge us to a dance-off, right? What's wrong? Tell me." He said anxiously.

"You know how much you mean to me, right?" She asked.

"I guess." Matthew replied unsurely.

"Oh, come on. You busted me out of Warwick." She said.

"Yeah, that was pretty crazy. Taking a plane all the way to Seattle." He said.

"And that night, I knew we'd be friends for life." She went on. Oh crap this wasn't going to be good.

"Friends?" He asked.

"I'm not ready to have a boyfriend." Dani replied.

"Is this because of what I said to you at prom?" He asked. He hoped not it was a mistake.

"No, no." She replied.

"Look, just forget it!" He exclaimed.

"Well, I can't! You said you loved me." She said.

"I didn't mean it-" He said. That was partially true.

"Yes, you did. But the truth is, I don't... I don't think I know what love is." She sputtered. Yeah like he was that stupid!

"Why don't you tell me what this is really about?" He asked angrily.

"You think I'm buying that you're not ready to have a boyfriend that you don't know what love is?" He exclaimed angrily.

"It's true." She tried to insist.

"Why don't you ask Nate Salinger?" He asked bitterly.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"You want to be with him instead of me, don't you? Just admit it!" Matthew yelled.

"Nate and I are friends!" She protested. Yeah like he was supposed to buy that line of garbage! He was sick of all the fucking lies!

"Then why did you kiss him?" He asked.

"What?" She asked confused.

"You told me that you kissed him in the park." He spat out.

"Yes, I did." She replied.

"You said it didn't mean anything." He said angrily.

"I know." She replied. Is that all she _really _had to say?

"Well, I'm guessing it did mean something, didn't it?" He asked loudly.

"I don't know." She replied. He scoffed. Yeah right.

"No, please! I wish I could say something else. I wish I could say that I love you, too, and that I'm feeling everything you feel, that I can be your girlfriend. But I can't! I just can't!" She exclaimed.

"Great." Matthew answered bitterly.

"Matthew, please. You mean so much to me." She said.

"Oh, what, 'cause I busted you out of Warwick?" He asked angrily.

"Well, you saved me. I'd probably still be stuck there if it weren't for you." She said.

"Why don't you go back?" He asked coldly.

"Matthew, just listen!" She exclaimed.

"No! I can't! I have to go to the reception." He exclaimed pushing her away.

When he got to the reception he spotted Destiny and she was alone so he made his way over to her excitedly.

"Hey." Destiny said. She looked beautiful in that dress not to mention very sexy.

"Hey." He replied solemnly.

"You okay?" She asked concerned.

"Dani just dumped me." He replied.

"It's her loss." She replied. He was really glad to have her in his life he didn't know what he would do without her.

"Maybe I got what I deserved." He said.

"Why would you say that?" She asked curiously.

"She doesn't want to have a boyfriend. She just wants us to be friends." He replied.

"So?" She asked. Didn't she get it?

"Des, I said the same thing to you. I am so sorry." Matthew apologized.

"Ain't no thang." Destiny smiled hitting his chest slightly. Then what do you know his other "favorite" person came over.

"Baby. You gonna let me do all the work out there by myself? Hey, Matt." Darren said.

"Hey." He replied.

"Let's show these people how it's done." Darren said.

"Darren, I can't right now." Destiny said.

"Yes, you can." He said even though it pained him to.

"What?" She asked confused.

"I'm okay." He said. That couldn't be further from the truth.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Go show us how it's done." He said. She kissed him on the check causing an explosion of fireworks. Then Darren and Destiny made it on to the dance floor. As much as it pained him to see them together he was glad Darren made her happy which is what she deserved. His parents made their way over to him.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad." He greeted.

"We missed you, boy." His dad said.

"Sorry about that." He replied.

"Come on, you don't have to apologize. A little birdie told us that you might have been spending a little Dani time." His mom said. Yeah and she played him for a fool.

"Is everything all right?" His dad asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just upset I didn't get to make my toast." He lied. Well partially true but mostly not.

"Ah, don't worry about it." His dad said.

"Maybe next time. Ha ha ha! I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Kidding. Ha ha!" His mom said. He reached over to get his soda.

"Ah, well, here is to the best dad in the world and the best mom and best parents in the world a guy could ask for. I'm really glad you guys got back together, not just for me but for you guys. I hope you have a great time on your honeymoon." He said.

"Oh! That's so sweet. Thank you." His mom said.

"You are the best son that we could ever ask for." His dad said.

"If you don't mind, I'm just..." He trailed off. He kind of wanted to be alone right now.

"Dani awaits?" His mom asked. No one was waiting for him really.

"Something like that." He said going off to sit outside to get lost in times of the past when things were much simpler.

*Flashback*

_"__It's almost 5,000 steps." He said._

_ "That's just today?"Destiny asked._

_ "Tomorrow, I'm going to go for 10,000. Thanks for the great Christmas present." He said._

_ "There's something I've been wanting to tell you...for a really long time." She said._

_ "So tell me." He said. What in the world was it?_

_ "Matthew Buchanan, I'm in love with you." She said. Wow he was not expecting that._

_ "I mean it, Matthew, I love you. I'm, like, really into you." She said. She knew how to make a guy speechless._

_ "But, I mean, I thought we were friends." He sputtered._

_ "We are. And I just figured after everything we've been through, we could kind of, you know, level up, be more like boyfriend and girlfriend." She said._

_ "I don't know what to say." He said._

_ "Neither did I. That's why I kept my mouth shut this whole time." She replied._

_ "Really?"He asked._

_ "I wanted to tell you, but something always got in the way. This is the first time and it's probably not the right time. But I mean, you're here, you're walking. We danced. And I just didn't want to start the New Year without telling you how I felt about you, without knowing how you felt about me." She said._

_ "Destiny, I really like you_._" _ _He said._

_ "Like, like? Or just as friends?" She asked._

_ "Des, you're the best friend I've ever had." He said._

_ "But you don't like me the way I like you." She said._

_ "No." He replied._

_ "Not the way you like Danielle." She said._

_ "I don't like Dani that way. I don't like anyone like that right now." He said._

_ "Dani got to help you take your first steps in the sneakers I gave you." Destiny said._

_ "You've been amazing. All right, I don't know what I would have done without you these past few months. You really are the best friend I've ever had. I just don't want to lose that." He said._

_ "You want everything! Just like your sister. You strung me along the same way Rachel did with Shaun, until someone prettier and skinnier came along." She exclaimed._

_ "Hey, that's not true." He protested._

_ "Isn't it? Go be with Dani, run to her now that you can." She said._

_ "Des..." He said as she ran away crying._

*Back to Present*

If he was truly honest with himself back then he would have known that he felt the same way that she did but he didn't realize it until a short while ago. He wished that he would have taken a risk and been with her or even gone after her. Life would be so much simpler now if that had happened. Everything was all complicated and twisted now. He was in love with her when she was with Darren. It sucked. A part of him just went after Dani because she was a simpler choice there wasn't any risk like there was with Destiny, his best friend. How was he going to get out of this mess? He wasn't quite sure but when he was he was going to have to prove to her that what he felt was truly real and she wasn't his rebound girl. So he left and went back home without a glance back.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters owned by one life to live or the song featured in this chapter

A/N: I am soo glad that everyone has been enjoying this story so far and I hope you continue. This is the first chapter I wrote that doesn't follow the show at all so please let me know what you think. Oh and here's the music video that is featured in this chapter: youtube.com/watch?v=n3htOCjafTc . You can watch it before,during or after you are done reading the chapter its up to you. Let me know what you think about the song choice too. Sorry for the super long author note enjoy :D

A Play for Love – Chapter 8

Today was the day after his parents wedding also known as the day after Dani dumped him for Nate. Really though he was quite fine with it because that way he could go after the one he truly loved, Destiny. There was one thing that got in the way off that though. Her boyfriend Darren who was possibly one of the most annoying people on the planet at least to him. He had no clue what to do. David would be no help at all since he wasn't really into serious things like this and his parents were out of town so they wouldn't be of any help. The one thing he knew was he had to make his move and make it fast before things got to serious between the two of them. Looking over at the clock he noticed it was almost noon aka lunch time so it would be a good time for him to get out of the house. He took a quick shower and got dressed noticing that David was out cold. Probably because he had too much to drink. He chuckled quietly and grabbed his keys writing a quick note to David the left the house and made his way to the Buenos Dias Cafe. Matthew sent a quick text to Destiny asking if she would like to meet him there. Less than a minute later he got a reply from her saying sure. He replied with a smiley face then turned off his phone as he made his was inside the restaurant. After quickly placing his order he sat down at a large booth. About three minutes later Destiny walked in.

"Hey." He said standing up (smiling) to give her a large hug . He couldn't help if he had the urge to touch her for as long as possible. What could he say she was absolutely gorgeous strapless orange dress of hers.

"Hey. How are you doing?" She asked joining him in the large booth.

"Good actually." Matthew replied.

"Really?" She asked confused.

"Yeah I really am." He replied.

"Is this the same Matthew Buchanan that I saw last night?" She asked. He smiled brightly at her and chuckling at her question.

"Yes it is. Time has a way of making things clear." He replied.

"Oh yeah like what?" She asked curiously.

"Someone sure is quite nosy today." He said.

"Well excuse me mister I guess I wont ask so many questions next time." She said.

"I was only teasing. I thought about it a lot and I am actually quite fine with the break up. It was for the better. There are plenty of other fish in the sea." Matthew replied.

"Okay but didn't you tell her you loved her not to long ago." She replied giving him a look.

"Well I did love her but I wasn't in love with her." He replied.

"Then why did you say it?" She asked curiously sipping on her soda.

"Well partially because I was in the moment." He said.

"And why else?" She asked.

He looked down and blushed. " The other reason was that I was picturing it was someone else."

"Who?" She asked. Before he got a chance to respond Darren walked in and sat at the counter motioning for her to join him.

"Do you mind?" She asked. Boy did he ever mind but of course she didn't know that.

"No go ahead. I'll be fine by myself." He said. She mouthed a thank you and walked her was over to Darren smiling.

Ten seconds later she began laughing and touching Darren's arms who smiled warmly back at her. Too warmly in his opinion. He really hated that guy who of course had to swoop in and take his girl away from him even though she wasn't he really wanted her to be. He probably was like the only person that hated that guy everyone else seemed to like him. Matthew just glared daggers at Darren event though he didn't seem to notice.

"Fantasy"

He was in this room and Destiny and Darren where sitting at this table absorbed in each others company. Suddenly out of nowhere he began singing.

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

And I can't keep picturing you with him

And it hurts so bad ,yeah

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

I replay it over and over again

And I cant take it yeah I cant shake it

Nooo

I cant wait to see you

Want to see if you still got that look in your eyes

The one you had for me before we said our goodbyes

And its a shame we got to spend our time

Being mad about the same things

Over and over again

About the same things

Over and over again

Ohh

But I think she's leaving

Ooh man shes leaving

I don't know what else to do

(I Can't go on not loving you)

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

And I can't keep picturing you with him

And it hurts so bad ,yeah

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

I replay it over and over again,yeah

And I cant take it yeah I cant shake it

Nooo

I remember the day you left

I remember the last breath you took right In front of me

When you said u would leave

I was too damn stubborn to try to stop you to say anything

But I see clearly now

And the choice I make keeps playing in my head

Over and over again

Playing in my head

Over and over again

Ohh

I think she's leaving

Ooh man shes leaving

I don't know what else to do

(I Can't go on not loving you)

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

And I can't keep picturing you with him

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

I replay it over and over again,yeah

And I cant take it yeah I cant shake it

Nooo

(Now I realized I'm going down

From all this pain you put me through

Every time I close my eyes I lock it down,oh

I Can't go on not loving you)

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

And I can't keep picturing you with him

And it hurts so bad ,yeah

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

I replay it over and over again

And I cant take it yeah I cant shake it

Nooo

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

And I can't keep picturing you with him

And it hurts so bad ,yeah

Cause it's all In my head

I think about it over and over again

I replay it over and over again

And I cant take it yeah I cant shake it

Nooo

Over and over again

Over and over again

Cause it's all In my head

Reality Time

"Mind if I join you?" A voice asked him. Shaking him self out of his daydream he saw Shaun standing over him.

"Oh yeah. Sure." He replied as Shaun,one of Destiny's older brothers, joined him.

"I got a question for you." Shaun said.

"Okay." He replied unsurely.

"Is there a reason you like you want to kill Darren where he stands?" Shaun asked. Oh crap this was not good. Not at all.

"I wasn't." He replied lying.

"Do I look stupid to you?" Shaun asked giving him a look.

"No." He replied.

"Give me the truth then this time son." Shaun answered.

"Cause he's annoying?" He replied weakly.

"Although that is quite true, give me the real reason." Shaun said.

"That is the reason." He replied lying once again.

"Seriously do I look like I was born yesterday?" Shaun asked.

"No." He replied.

"Then just spit it out kid." Shaun replied.

"Destiny." He mumbled under his breath.

"What was that again? I didn't quite understand what you said." Shaun said.

"Destiny." Matthew said more clearly.

"What is about my little sister that makes you want to kill Darren where he stands?" Shaun asked.

"Because..." He trailed off trying not to blush.

"Because what?" Shaun asked.

"Because they are dating." He replied.

"Why do you have a problem with Destiny dating that wanna be pimp?" Shaun asked.

"I don't want her to." He replied.

"Any reason why that is true?" Shaun asked.

"Because I am in love with her." He mumbled.

"Could you repeat that a little bit louder." Shaun said smirking slightly.

"Because I am in love with her." He said.

"Wait so your in love with my little sister?" Shaun asked.

"I just told you didn't I ?" He asked.

"So how long have you been in love with her?" Shaun asked.

"Awhile." He replied vaguely.

"I'm not quite sure how long exactly but I think it been for almost a year or so." He replied.

"Then what was your reason for breaking her heart on new years?" Shaun asked.

"I was an idiot?" He said.

"That is true. But really why?" Shaun asked him again.

"I actually didn't realize that I had feelings for her until recently and once I did I realized that I felt this way about her for quite some time." He replied honestly.

"I have to admit I think you're much better for her than that moron over there but if you break her heart again I will kill you understand?" Shaun said.

"Yes." He replied.

"Ok just treat her right and we wont have a problem." Shaun said/

"Okay. But how do I tell her how I feel?" He asked.

"Just look in your heart and you will find the answer." Shaun said.

"Thanks." He replied.

"Your welcome kid. I got to go to work now." Shaun said.

"Bye." He said.

He saw Shaun make his was over to Darren and Destiny.

"Your days as my sister boyfriend are numbered." Shaun said. Oh boy.

"Your not going to kill me are you?" Darren asked nervously while Destiny looked confused.

"No I am not going to kill your punk ass. Lets just say you have some competition." Shaun said winking at Darren as he left.

Matthew slammed his head on the table trying to control his blush. Lets hope that Darren was too stupid to figure out his competition was him.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Don't own any characters owned by one life to live.

a/n: I am soo glad for all the positive feedback on this story. It means a lot to me :D Enjoy!

**A Play for Love Chapter 9 **

He had been thinking non-stop about his conversation with Shaun a few days ago. Matthew was trying his best to figure out a way to win over Destiny but so far nothing was coming to mind. He was in fact listening to his heart which hasn't given him any ideas. Well not any good ones. The ones he _did _come up with were extremely cheesy or extremely stupid. There were times were he thought of David for advice but instantly thought better of it. He groaned in frustration. Man being in love was especially when it was with his best friend who had _no _clue that he felt this way as far as he could tell. Deciding to put it in the back of his mind for now he took a shower and got dressed. He turned on his cell phone and decided to call Destiny. Maybe the idea would just come to him when he was with her. She was  
#3 on his speed dial on his phone only after his parents.

"Hello." Destiny said.

"Hey." Matthew replied.

"Was there a reason for your call?" She asked.

"Oh. Yeah. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today?" He asked.

"I guess so sure. Any reason why?" She asked.

"Geesh. Can't a guy hang out with his .. best friend without so many questions." He retorted chuckling.

"Yeah. It's just that I haven't heard from you since like three days ago." She replied.

"Sorry its just that I had a lot of things on my mind." He said.

"Ok. Fine. We can talk about that more later. Where do you want to hang out?" She asked.

"How about the Quarry in an hour. Bring your suit." Matthew replied. Boy was that a site he couldn't wait to see ;).

"Sounds good. See you then." She said hanging up the phone.

He changed into his swimming trunks and put sunscreen on everywhere that he could reach. He put the sunscreen, some sunglasses and a towel in his backpack. Looking at the time he saw that he should head over to the Quarry. Leaving his room he saw that his brother was still asleep so he left a quick note, grabbed his keys and left the house. He got to the quarry about ten minutes later and saw that Destiny was already there but still hadn't taken off her clothes so he wasn't able to see her in her bathing suit yet. Darn.

"Hey." He called out to her, She jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Oh,Hey. You scared me." She said a little out of breath.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you." He said.

"Its all forgiven." She replied. He took off his shirt.

"Awesome. Oh can you put some sunscreen on my back?" He asked. Matthew loved the feeling of her hands on his bare skin.

"Sure, but then you have to do mine." She said. Oh boy was this going to be interesting.

"Ok. Fine by me." He replied.

"Where's the sunscreen?" She asked.

"Oh. Its in my bag." He said. It took her a couple minutes to find it.

"Ok I found it , sunscreen time." She said squeezing some sunscreen on her hands and rubbed them together. She placed her hands on his shoulders and slowly began rubbing it in. He had to bit his lips to suppress a moan from leaving his mouth, she was going to be the death of him. Destiny then began rubbing his back causing him to grow increasingly harder by the second. A couple of minutes later she was done and he was well you know.

"All done. You do me now." She said. Man the thoughts she put in his head. He gulped.

"But you're still wearing your dress." He replied. How was he supposed to do this without giving himself away? It was, going to be difficult that's for sure.

"Oh yeah sorry." She said taking her red tank dress to reveal a pink leopard print tankini.

"Its fine." He replied. Believe me she was more than fine. She was absolutely breathtaking.

"Here's my sunscreen." She said handing him the bottle. He squeezed a small amount into the palm of his hands rubbing them together. He placed them on her shoulders rubbing in the sunscreen and then he repeated the same process savoring the moment. But soon enough, too soon in his opinion, it was over.

"Thanks." She replied smiling up at him. He returned the smile.

"It was no problem." He replied.

"Last one in the water in a rotten egg." She exclaimed. They both rushed to make it in the water and jumped in at the same time.

"Guess that was a tie." He replied.

"Yeah I guess so." She replied.

"So what have you been doing these past few days?" She asked.

"Nothing much. Just thinking." He replied, please don't ask about what, please!

"Oh,really what about?" She asked grinning. There was only one thing on his mind lately: her. But he wasn't about to let her know that.

"Nothing really." He replied trying his best not to blush.

"And I'm supposed to buy that?" She asked smirking which looked really sexy at least to him it did. Most things that had to do with her were.

"Yes?" He replied weakly. Oh crap he knew she wasn't going to take that for an answer.

"Well I don't so fess up mister." Destiny replied. Uh oh this was not going to be good for him.

"Not going to." He said. There was no way that she was going to weasel that out of him. At least not yet until he wad ready whenever that was.

"Yes you are. I am going to make you." She replied grinning. No way was that going to happen.

"And how do you plan on doing that Missy?" He replied slightly flirtatiously.

"By doing this." She said and began splashing him.

"Oh you think your clever don't you." He retorted as he began splashing her back. Boy was she hot wet. But he couldn't let that distract him at all.

"You're going to get it and you are going to get it hard." She replied back slightly playfully. He wasn't quite sure if he liked the way that sounded.

"Then bring in on." He taunted. Not even a second later she began splashing him again and he did the same. They continued on for what seemed like forever before one eventually surrendered.

"Fine,Fine I give up." She said.

"Just like I thought." He replied.

"So there's nothing I can do to get you to tell me?" She asked pouting. Destiny was going to be the death of him he swore.

He gulped."Nope, Not a thing."

"Are you sure?" She taunted him.

"You should just give up I'm not going to tell you." He said. It was becoming quite hard not to give in to her temptations but he was holding onto his willpower like a life boat, his last resort.

"You know I can be quite persistent when I don't get what I want." She replied grinning wickedly. Why didn't she just kill him? It would be much easier.

"Great to know." He replied gulping as Destiny moved in closer he felt his heart begin to race, palms beginning to sweat, his breathing became shallower and one guess what _else_ happened.

"Tell me." She said about a foot away from him.

"Not going to happen." He said trying to control himself which was growing harder by the moment and he wasn't just talking about his lower regions.

"How are you going to stop me?" She asked him and inch from his face.

"I got an idea." He replied.

"What?" She asked him.

"This." He replied. He than began kissing her passionately and felt her response eagerly. Matthew then felt a moan escape him as she finally pushed him away.

"I've,uh, got a lot of things to sort out." She sputtered rushing out as fast a she could. Leaving him in the water watching her go.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters owned by one life to live.

A/N:Glad everyone has been enjoying my story :D hope you all love this chapter! Enjoy!

**A Play for Love Chapter 10**

It had been over a week since he had heard from Destiny ever since their kiss. She had definitely avoided him even at school, making it extremely difficult to talk to her and sort things out. He had decided that he needed to tell her how he felt about her, no matter what the cost of that was. His thoughts and dreams have been consumed by her. She had been unusually quiet lately which was abnormal because she usually talked up a storm. He wondered if she told Darren yet. He wasn't quite sure because he hadn't been around him at all lately not because he was avoiding Darren or anything. He wasn't really. Darren would most likely go after him if he knew or figured out the truth. Luckily he didn't have any classes with the guy and in the classes he shared with Destiny,unless there was assigned seating,would sit as far away from him as she could and she had not said a word to him since that day. He wondered what was going on in her head, what he wouldn't give to find out. Did she like the kiss? Did she have feelings for him? Was she going to tell Darren? Was she going to break up with him? These questions had been running through his mind constantly and he didn't have the answers to any of them since she hadn't talked to him. Since today was the last day of school he had no clue when he was going to see her again well until school started up again but he hoped that he would see her again before that. It would be pretty horrible if he didn't but it was pretty unlikely he wouldn't run into her in their small town; that is unless she went away for the entire summer to avoid him. Matthew looked up to the clock and saw that the final bell of the year would be ringing in about a minute. He just stared at it watching the seconds tick by slowly until the bell finally rang. He quickly gathered his stuff and headed to his locker to take out the rest of his belongings out. It took him about five minutes to gather up everything and put it in hid backpack. On his way he passed by the gym/auditorium when he heard two voices in there arguing about something or another. He took a couple steps back and saw it was was Destiny and Darren! What were they fighting about? He thought those two were happy. Matthew walked closer so he would be able to hear what they were saying but not close enough so he would be seen by anyone.

"So are you going to me?" Darren asked more like shouted. This did _not_ sound good.

"Tell you what Darren?" She asked in return.

"Don't play dumb with me." Darren shouted angrily at her.

"I don't know what you are talking about." She replied. He heard Darren scoff.

"Okay let me clarify it for you. You going to tell me why you haven't answered any of my calls or text? Why have you been avoiding me for the past week?" Darren exclaimed. She was avoiding Darren too? Strange.

"I have been busy." She replied. Doing what? He hadn't seen her outside of school since then.

"Oh yeah doing what with whom?" Darren asked accusingly. He took it that she hadn't told Darren about their kiss.

"I have been hanging around with my family a lot." She said.

"But why haven't you answered _any_ of my calls or texts? Unless there is another reason." Darren said.

"I lost my phone." She said. He was pretty sure she didn't . Well not that he knew of since his phone showed that she at the very least received his first few texts. After he didn't hear from her he didn't bother trying again.

"But what about the time I have tried your home phone?" He asked, "Or the time I went to your house and your mom said you weren't there? But you were there weren't you!"

"I didn't want to talk or see you." She replied. Was she going to tell him or not? At this point he wasn't quite sure but Darren seemed very determined to him.

"Oh and why is that?" Darren asked curiously.

"I had a lot on my mind." Destiny replied.

"Uh yeah like what?" Darren asked.

"It's nothing okay." She exclaimed.

"I don't think so. Its got be pretty big if you were avoiding me for an entire week." He replied angrily.

"If I tell you will you promise not to get mad ?" She asked nervously.

"I can't make any promises but I will try my best I guess." Darren replied. Matthew was practically as good as dead now. Crap.

"Matthew and I kissed." She admitted sheepishly.

"You what?" Darren exclaimed.

"Matthew and I kissed," She repeated.

"I thought you said you were over him." Darren retorted.

"I am over him." She sputtered.

"Then why did you two kiss?" Darren asked confused.

"He kissed _me_!" She exclaimed.

"Did you kiss him back?" Darren yelled. The room was silent for a few seconds.

"Well that tells me all I need to know." Darren said angrily.

"I didn't mean to .. it was unexpected." She said.

"But that doesn't explain why you kissed him back." Darren replied.

"It was only for a little while though. I pushed him away and then left." She said.

"I need some time to process this, Can we talk tomorrow?" Darren said.

"Sure. I'll see you then." She replied kissing Darren on the cheek. She then walked out of the auditorium. Turning slightly Destiny looked up and spotted him. Oh this wasn't good. Not at all. She looked up at him with an unrecognizable look on her face. He just starred back at her not even saying a word. She looked beautiful not that she didn't look beautiful every single day.

"What are you doing?" Destiny asked in harsh whisper.

"Nothing." He replied quietly.

"Ok whatever I need you to let me leave." She replied. How was he supposed to do that? Matthew didn't ever want to let her go. He didn't say a word just gestured for her to leave. Which she did brushing into him as she walking by not even looking back at him. How could someone so small do this to his heart? Glancing down at his hands he noticed they were sweaty and he heard his heart return to his normal rhythm. He let out a sigh as he slid down the wall making a slight thud as he hit the ground. While although there were a few questions answered there were quite a few left unanswered. Like what she felt for him and whether or not she wanted to be with him. It really sucked not to know these answers. If he was ever going to find out she is avoiding him. Today was the first time in a week and she barely even acknowledged him. Man did he love her and he punched the brick wall in frustration. Out of nowhere he heard a set of footsteps coming toward him. He got up off the ground and saw a very angry Darren looking at him. Boy was this not good actually it was pretty down right horrible. Not the person he wanted to find him at all.

"Hi." Matthew offered up weakly before he was met with a punch to the eye. That knocked him back a little while he struggled to regain his balance.

"Okay I deserved that." He said once he was balanced.

"Yes you did you little punk." Darren growled.

"Okay." He said. What the hell was he supposed to say in this situation? Matthew had _no_ idea since well he had never been in this situation before.

"Why did you lie to me?" Darren asked angrily. What was he talking about?

"What do you mean I lied to you?" Matthew asked confused.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Darren exclaimed.

"No." He said.

"Well let me explain it to you 'buddy' I was talking about the time I asked you if you and Destiny were more than friends and you flat out lied." Darren retorted. On so that was what he was talking about.

"We were though." Matthew sputtered.

"Don't lie to me." Darren said angrily.

"I'm not I swear. Then we were still technically friends." He replied.

"Okay. So if that's actually true then when did you start having feelings for Destiny?" Darren asked.

"Well do you want to know when they began or when I realized that I had them?" Matthew asked. He didn't have much choice but tell him the truth he didn't want another punch in the face.

"Both." Darren replied crossing his arms.

"Ok I realized it on prom night but there had been some subtle indicators for a couple of weeks or so beforehand." He said.

"Go on." Darren said bluntly.

"Well I have only told this to many people. There's only one other person that knows about it." Matthew replied only somewhat surely.

"Who?" Darren asked curiously.

"Shaun." He replied.

"Oh you mean that day at the Buenos Dios where he said my days were numbered as Destiny's boyfriend." Darren said.

"Yes. Do you want me to go on though or not?" Matthew asked.

"Oh yeah continue." Darren said.

"Well like I said I realized on prom night but ever since our first rehearsal there where tiny indicators but I just kept trying to brush them off. At first I just said I was attracted to her till I couldn't deny any longer which was prom night. But the truth is I have had more than friendly feelings for he for quite awhile now." He said. It was hard to believe he was telling Darren all of this but there wasn't too much choice unless he wanted to end up even more black and blue then he already was.

"How long?" Darren asked.

"You want the exact date or a rough estimate?" He retorted.

"The exact date, I guess." Darren replied. Okay here goes nothing.

"Okay I'll tell you. It was the the first time I met her on 2/27/09." Matthew said letting out a breath.

"So you mean to tell me you have had feelings for her for about 16 months?" Darren asked in shock.

"Yes." He replied simply.

"Does she know that you have feelings for her?" Darren asked.

"I don't know." Matthew said.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Darren asked confused.

"Well I haven't actually told her. But you know what happened." Matthew said.

"Oh yeah. So why did you kiss her?" Darren asked curiously.

"I wasn't planning it or anything. But it just happened." He replied.

"Oh, So what are you going to do?" Darren asked.

"I don't think there's anything else I can do, besides she's with you." Matthew replied.

"Right. That." Darren said.

"Also I don't even know if she feels the same way about me as I do her." He replied.

"Which is what exactly?" Darren asked.

"I'm in love with her always have been." Matthew admitted.

"Wow." Darren said.

"Yeah I though the same thing when I realized it." Matthew said.

"Oh." Darren said still at a loss for words apparently.

"Yeah well I should probably get going,so." Matthew said.

"Whether her and I stay together or not you need to tell her how you feel, it's the right thing to do." Darren said grabbing his shoulder. He just nodded and walked out the door and headed home.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer:I don't own the character owned by one life to live nor do I own the song featured in this chapter.

A/N:Hey everyone! I am so happy with all of the feedback I have received for this story :D As you may or may not know this is my last chapter of this story so let me know what you think for this story and if any future stories of mine. Here is this song in this chapter youtube.com/watch?v=5Wo6Mp6hdfc feel free to listen to it whenever you feel like. Also get out the tissues because you are in for an emotional ride!

**A Play for Love Chapter 11**

It was the day after his talk with Darren and he still hadn't come up with a way to tell Destiny he was in love with her. He had spent the night searching the internet for ideas and nothing had really seemed right. How was he supposed to tell his best friend,the person he wanted to be with most in this world, that he was in love with her? Nothing seemed just right for that moment nothing at all. All of a sudden a rush of thoughts came to his mind. He remembered his dad telling him at his wedding that you should fight for what you love, Shaun saying that if looked in his heart he would find the answer he was looking for and Darren saying that he needed to tell _her_ how he felt no matter what. They were right he did need to step up to the plate and fight for her. All of a sudden an idea popped into his head and he started writing the words flowing onto the paper. If this didn't work he didn't know what would.

After he placed a few calls he had everything set up. This better work. He was giving it his all baring his soul for her to see. As well as about half of Llanview at least those who were going to be at the country club. He had made sure that she was going to be there, well her brother was going to make sure that she was. He locked up the apartment and headed off to the country club. Arriving there not ten minutes later he spotted Shaun and Destiny in the crowd, Shaun looked up at him and winked while he returned it with a nervous smile. Destiny was wearing some blue v necked x and backed top with white shorts, god she was beautiful. Matthew hid in the shadows as the manager of the club made his special announcement. When he heard his cue he got on stage, the manger whispered good luck in his ear. He cleared his throat.

"Hey everybody, well I want to dedicate this to a very special girl whose in the audience and she needs to know how I feel, well here I go." Matthew said to a crowd of shocked people. He caught Destiny's eye who looked quite surprised to say the least.

I woke up in this moment

To everything undone

I wasn't waiting for anything

But still here you come

You're better than love

You're all that I need

When I close my eyes you are all that I see

You're under my skin

You run through my blood

Oh, you know you're better than

You know you're better than love

I didn't know how to find you

I was always on the run

I though somehow it will keep me sane

But look what I've become

You're better than love

You're all that I need

When I close my eyes you are all that I see

You're under my skin

You run through my blood

Oh, you know you're better than

You know you're better than me

That's what I have learned

From all the places and pages I've turned

I'm trying to say words aren't enough

Oh, you know you're better than

You know you're better than love

And if I had something

I'd want to tell you here tonight

If this was my last moment

I would spend my life with you

You're better than me

That's what I have learned

From all the places and pages I've turned

I'm trying to say words aren't enough

Oh, you know you're better than

You know you're better than love

You're all that I need

When I close my eyes you are all that I see

You're under my skin

You run through my blood

Oh, you know you're better than

You know you're better than love

His eyes never once left Destiny's during the entire performance. He hope that she got it was for her and not some other girl. Matthew saw tears in her eyes, oh man he hated making her cry, that wasn't his intentions at all. He didn't even know whether or not she was single at all. A moment later she fought the crowd running off and he was quick to run after her. He wasn't going to let her go not this easily. It only took a few minutes for him to catch up with her. He approached her carefully placing a hand on her shoulder which she shook off.

"What's wrong?" He asked gently looking at her with concern. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"Why?" She asked sniffling.

"Why what?" He asked holding onto one off her hands.

"Why did you kiss me? Why did you sing that song for me?" She asked looking at him.

"Because I wanted to." He replied. The simpler the better although he had a feeling this wasn't going to be that easy considering everything.

"That's not an answer!" She exclaimed.

"You really want to know the answer?" He asked. She just looked at him the silence was all the answer he needed.

"Okay first thing first. I'll start with why I kissed you. I just really wanted to it was a spontaneous sort of thing." He replied.

"So you have never wanted to kiss me before?" She exclaimed frustratedly. He closed his eyes and sighed. This was going to be much harder than he had thought it was going to be.

"Yes there has been plenty of times where I wanted to kiss you." He explained.

"Oh yeah like when?" Destiny scoffed. He tilted her head so she was looking at him, making sure she was looking at him. Matthew gently brushed her tears with his thumb.

"There have been plenty of times I wanted to kiss you. Like at my moms and Clint's wedding. I couldn't get over how breathtakingly beautiful you looked in that dress." He said softly gazing into her eyes.

"So why didn't you?" She asked curiously.

"We were interrupted before I could get that far silly. Like I said that wasn't the only time. There was that time in the hospital room were I comforted you after Shaun got shot. So many other times that I can't count. Like at the diner after prom." He replied.

"So why didn't you? Why did you wait until after I had a boyfriend?" She asked curiously tears were still pooling in her eyes.

"I was a coward I guess. I guess I didn't realize how wonderful you were." He said.

"Well that doesn't explain why you didn't kiss me until very recently." She replied.

"It was because I was an idiot. I actually didn't even realize I had feelings for you until prom night." He said taking a pause when Destiny interrupted him.

"I thought you told Dani you loved her on prom night?" She asked confused.

"Well as I told you before I was imagining it was someone else. And that someone else was you." He said placing a finger on her lips to quiet her so that he could finish what he had to say. " At first I thought maybe I was just caught up in the moment. But later I realized probably a minute after you left the dinner that I was absolutely, positively in love with you."

"You're in love with me?" She asked shyly.

"Yes I am. Always have been since the moment we met just took me awhile to see. Didn't you hear the song I wrote _and _sang for you?" He said smiling at her lovingly.

"So then why didn't you tell me earlier like on new years?" She asked curiously. Matthew sighed.

"As I said I didn't realize I was in love with you until prom night. I was in denial for a very long time." He replied.

"Oh." She said.

"And speaking of being in denial, why did you kiss me back when I kissed you at the quarry?" He asked a sparkle in his eyes. Destiny looked away blushing.

"Well are you going to tell me or what?" He asked grinning widely.

"Lets just say that denial feeling? Not completely one-sided." She admitted.

"Oh really?" He asked still smiling. She smacked his arm playfully.

"Shut up mister. I have been trying to convince myself that it was Darren that I wanted and not you. But as you can tell that didn't work out so well." She replied smiling at him shyly.

"I never would have been able to tell Miss Destiny. I know you liked my kissing skills." He said flirtatiously.

"It's not my fault your a really good kisser." She replied blushing.

"You're not so bad yourself Missy." Matthew replied teasingly.

"I think I have more than adequate kissing skills judging by that moan you did will your tongue was in my mouth." She said grinning at him flirtatiously . This time it was his turn to blush furiously.

"Awe aren't you adorable Mister." She replied pinching his cheeks, causing him to turn an even deeper shade of red.

"Stop it Missy. Are you going to stop teasing me and show me what you are made of?" He asked flirtatiously.

"On one condition." She said grinning.

"Okay whatever it is I'll do it." He replied.

"Am I your girlfriend now?" She asked.

"Of course." He said.

"Well then we have some catching up to do don't we?" She replied flirtatiously. Destiny then stood up on her tippy toes and began kissing him.

An hour later he returned home with a gigantic grin on his face. He opened the door and saw his parents there.

"Mom,Dad what are you doing here?" He asked curiously.

"Oh,Bud. Our honeymoon is over now." His dad replied.

"Yeah we just got back a few minutes ago." His mom said.

"Oh,Cool." He replied.

"So can we have a hug son?" His dad asked.

"Sure." He replied a bit distractedly as they both hugged him.

"Hey whats that on your cheek?" His mom asked curiously. Oh crap Destiny's lip gloss must have ended up on his cheek.

"Ugh, lip gloss." Matthew replied.

"Why would lip gloss be on your cheek son?" His dad asked.

"Is it Dani's?" His mom asked.

"No. It must have ended up on my cheek after my new girlfriend hugged me." He sputtered out a grin spreading upon his face.

"You have a new girlfriend bud?" His dad asked.

"Who is she?" His mom asked.

"Yes I do and lets just say were _Destined_ to be together." He replied with a wink heading off to his bedroom leaving behind his confused parents in the living room.


End file.
